


Miraculous Collinswood Full Body

by FeliciaBelle



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Caline Bustier Bashing, Good Lila Rossi, Identity Reveal, Magic AU, Multi, New and improved Collinswood, no beta we die like robins, tags will update as we go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:15:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 39,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23013115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeliciaBelle/pseuds/FeliciaBelle
Summary: A new year was supposed to be promising but when one rotten being ruins it for everyone, there's only one place to go; Collinswood. Of course, there's more than just a magic school with a better environment in the deal.
Comments: 38
Kudos: 30





	1. A New Year

**Author's Note:**

> No, you did not enter a wormhole. I am rewriting this little by little.  
> Yes, I am doing early redemption for Alya and Lila, it's a VERY long story, so please...Don't Ask.  
> Yes, Caline Salt will stay the same (I still hate her ^_^)  
> Please for the love of everything, I beg you to read "Fanfiction Update & Media Fun" I'll be putting important information there regarding fics if anything comes up, because I suspect hardly anyone reads these author notes.

A new school year, a new slate, and a familiar class. How lucky was he to have the same faces in his class again? Very if he does say so himself! Tori woke up earlier than expected, he was in a group chat with his small circle of friends and playing around on the most infuriating game out there, Cuphead. Everyone had some time before they had to log off for school, so they decided to just talk and goof around (Unless you were Kagami, then it was another story all together. She was enjoying breakfast and finishing up any and all summer homework). He had to admit, this past year in Paris was quite the adventure; at the beginning, he was so certain that the was going to hate it here. He was going to school with _mortals_ but then, fate had a change of plans, he was gifted the snake miraculous and he had two amazing allies that grew from a trio into a quintet (and he may be bold for thinking this, but he and Ladybug had talked with Chat about making their two temporary heroes like Rena Rouge and Carapace into permanent members, Master Fu warned them of the risks, but they were willing to take any risks needed for taking down Hawkmoth.). An amazing team, a decent school life, everything seemed to be going their way…they’ve even made some new friends from the other classes throughout their adventure, and here they sat.

“I’m still ticked that we don’t get to be in your class.” Aurore pouted.

“So what?” Tori challenged. “We can still meet for lunch and after – Son of a- Calla Maria is a bitch to fight!” 

The group just laughed; it was a common occurrence between them; getting enjoyment out of the other’s rage at a game. Depending on the game and the player got the following reaction; and this morning was Tori’s turn to be the target, he knew the risks of playing Cuphead and Mugman and now he was paying the price by screaming at the top of his lungs whenever a supposed easy boss was actually hard as hell.

“You’re still fighting her?” Nathaniel asked, wiping at his eyes. “I thought you would be at Mr. King Dice by now?”

Tori just gave him the middle finger. “Going back to the new school year, do you know what the seating arrangements are going to be like?”

Chloe shook her head and looked over between two shirts. “The only thing I know is that Sabrina and I are going to be together. Okay, which looks better the light blue with flowers or should I wear the solid crimson?”

“Definitely the flowers, this is a new school year, we should take advantage of starting a new look.” Marinette was fixing up her hair into a high ponytail. “Alya texted me actually and said she scored a seat by Adrian for me, I’m totally treating her for something after school today for that.”

“On the topic of school.” Kagami closed her books and put them in her bag. “Might I suggest we hang up, while it is true that we have time it would be wise if we close out and get there before the warning bell.”

“And speaking of patience, I suggest we hang up now and get to school. I doubt the teachers will wait for us.” Kagami finally spoke up.

That got everyone to log out and finish getting ready in a frantic rush. Tori grabbed his bag and peppermint bark as he went out to his windboard, he would fly around to pick up any one who was running late. While that wouldn’t be the case with Marinette as she lived across from the school and was usually tasked with bringing everyone breakfast, he was still tasked with picking people up; such was the case with Nathaniel and Marc, even after being used to flying with Tori, they still held onto each other or to him for dear life. It was the rare time he would let anyone aside from Luka hold onto him, he still hated it, but if it made his friends feel at ease while flying with him, he wasn’t going to complain.

As he landed in front of Francoise Dupont, he felt a cold chill brush against him, a hostile change? No, it had to be his imagination. He made his way to the lockers and placed most of his books away before bringing Sass out of his vest pocket, the winds had changed and this could be a sign of something major coming to the school

“Sass, the winds had changed.” Tori said softly.

“Keep an eye on your surroundings.” Sass warned. “It may be a fresh change for you and mortals, but it is also a fresh change for Hawkmoth.”

Tori nodded and made his way to class, like last year he was with Ms. Bustier’s class, so much for praying for a new classroom but…it was the smallest class and most new students were thrown into the room. Of course, he did spend his year documenting any and all incidents of her incompetence and with the help of an unlikely family friend…he was still amazed she still had a license. But he had vowed that he would wait until the right moment before he destroyed her, the world was like a game of chess, it was best to watch your opponents moves before making any drastic decisions. And right now, he was waiting for the opportunity to put her in check, unfortunately, today was not that day; he had to sit back and wait to see how the gods would treat him.

The class looked normal. Everyone was moving to their new seats, all seemed well enough. Everyone was present, Ms. Bustier had the new seating arrangements displayed for everyone to see so they could see where they would be sitting; so, what exactly was wrong with this picture? From the left row it was Nathaniel in the back, Mylene and Ivan in front of him, and Kim and Alex. Middle row had Chloe and Sabrina in the front, behind was Max, and in the back was Rose and Juleka. Final row was Adrien in the front with, behind was Alya and Nino, and in the back…Himself and Marinette? Not only that but next to Adrien’s name was Lila. Strange, Lila had ghosted from class a handful of times, but nothing too serious that would warrant an eyebrow raise. No, what was strange was the group chat from this morning; didn’t Alya say that she would score Marinette a spot by Adrien? That would require her to talk to Caline about how the seating should be.

“Uh Ms. Bustier?” Alya spoke up. “I don’t understand, I thought Marinette was supposed to sit with Adrien?”

“Oh! Well, we needed to accommodate a student.” Ms. Bustier said. “Due to her busy homelife, I figured it would help if we had Lila sit with Adrien to help her with homework.”

That made as much sense as the Shadow Games returning. No, wait…it did make sense, Ms. Bustier was playing favorites and she was going to do everything in her limited power to keep Lila “happy” even if it meant making everyone’s life miserable. And it was starting right here in the classroom. Narrowing his eyes, Tori led Marinette to the back with him, silently cursing under his breath. He could tell that the gods were really testing his patience with each second. It wasn’t that he had a problem with Lila, sure her aura was suffocating to be around, but there was a very faint dot of light there and he had been working his ass off to get her to where she needs to be; as of now, she was at the same spot where Chloe was when he first met her. The good news; her lying has been manageable and she knew boundaries, the bad news; since their teacher was an enabler, old habits were no doubt going to come rushing over like a freight train and all that work he had put in would be ruined. There had to be a way to keep this from happening, but what? Homeroom passed and lunch was approaching and he needed the energy to get through the rest of today. He was just tired and exhausted from all the crap from Ms. Bustier and her little policy on “Teamwork”. He waited until most everyone left before feeding his kwami a piece of peppermint bark as he headed home for the time being.

After that long and exhausting morning, Tori was in his room playing Kingdom Hearts, school was over and it gave him an opening to have a breather. Plus, it gives him time to work on his other assignments outside the mortal school. But for now, today was all about peace, quiet, and kicking Xehanort’s ass for the fifteenth time. How many times did he have to teach this lesson to the old man? Still, on a more serious note, he was deeply concerned about his friends and classmates. Having a teacher who played favorites wasn’t anything new, nor was a teacher abusing her power. This was deeply concerning, ever since he started his akuma therapy sessions downstairs…Well, Juleka was basically silenced into a wallflower before Tori showed up, Luka had confirmed that once upon a time, his sister was just as loud as the rest of the family. Then she entered Ms. Bustier’s class and she was silenced completely – don’t start up a fuss, just let things go. If picture day from last year was anything to go by…he shuddered to think what happened to the other students.

Of course, not everyone was a victim of her ‘helpful’ viewpoints; Marc was an example as was Nathaniel, Aurore, and Kagami, those four had their backs and they had just recently joined the motley crew after everything they had been through. It was a longshot, but he still held onto whatever hope that this mess will clear up and-

Slam!

“Tori! We need to talk. Now!” Chloe shrieked.

-There was the game over screen. Tori sighed and went back to his save point before turning off his ps4, so much for a quiet afternoon of videogames. The small annoyed look turned to concern when he saw the group standing in the doorway, Aurore and Kagami were holding Marinette close and rubbing her shoulders. Without hesitating, he cleared off his bed for the girls to sit on and went to close his door after everyone was gathered inside.

“What on earth happened?” he demanded.

“Everything! We tried going the nice route, but Ms. Bustier just threw those efforts right back into our faces!” Chloe screamed. “So, before you say anything – yes, we tried to get Lila to help us out, and yes she agreed. We went up to our ‘beloved’ teacher and told her that setting her up with Adrien was going to bring her grades down even more because of his schedule, we offered to work out an alternative but she wouldn’t listen! And that’s not even the worst part, we brought up how the seating arrangements were and…” she stopped herself and tried to settle her anger before continuing. “Okay, Tori…I know you have your weird magic lessons and everything, and I’ve learned from past mistakes when it came to you like the gold necklace incident on your birthday.”

Tori raised an eyebrow. “Give the short version, what did Ms. Bustier do to cause our sunshine and rainbow girl to break down?”

“She forced Marinette to resign as class president; saying that…I…I’m sorry, I can’t bring myself to repeat these words. Just…she thinks Marinette wasn’t doing a good job, let’s put it that way.”

Right. Change in plans, this bitch was going down. Tori tapped his foot in thought, clearly their school was becoming more of a mine field with each passing day, no thanks to their homeroom teacher. This was bad on so many levels; there was the risk of Chloe losing it and becoming akumatized again and Marinette getting hurt to the point of tears and near akumatized. Any and all transfers to another classroom would be shut down because she would “accidentally” lose their transfer request. There really wasn’t a way to get out of that toxic environment unless…Of course! Why didn’t he think of this sooner! Tori’s eyes lit up and a smile grew on his face, it was perfect; they would have a more safer environment to study both the craft and mortal lessons, teachers who treated everyone as an equal, homecooked meals, amazing dorms, and it was also the perfect battle ground to take down people like Caline Bustier! All that was needed for this plan was to get them as members of the coven and…

“You could join Collinswood!” he cried with delight.

All eyes were on him now, good, he has their full attention now.

“Collinswood?” Marc asked. “As in, the magic school you go to, Collinswood?”

Tori nodded and rushed to his desk before taking out an old brochure of the school and handed it to them. “The main school is in the states, but they have an institute around the world and there’s one here in Paris! You guys could join me there.” He smiled. “After all, it’s still early in the year to get you transferred over and to start a new course!”

Marinette looked it over and frowned. “It says here that it’s only for students who are in a coven. We’re not-”

“Not yet you’re not.” Tori smiled. “I want to invite you seven into the Sennen Coven.”

That took the group by surprise.

“Can you do that?” Nathaniel asked.

“As the heir of the Sennen Coven, I do have the authority.” Tori confirmed. “I would need to talk to my aunt about arrangements for the ceremony, but aside from that I, Torigan Dalimar-Shai, invite you; Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Chloe Bourgeois, Sabrina Raincomprix, Nathaniel Krutzberg, Marc Anciel, Kagami Tsurugi, and Aurore Beaureal into the Sennen Coven as my family.”

They thought it over for a bit. The school itself was promising; it focused on getting their students to be a master in their field as their main goal while enhancing their other abilities. They had a section that mixed mortal studies with the magic aspect so mortal grades won’t suffer in the slightest bit and students would still have a chance to get into better schools and such after graduation! And the cherry on top was they allowed their students to attend both Collinswood and a mortal school without judgement if they wished to return to Francois-Dupont at any given time.

“Well, I already know I’m agreeing to this.” Chloe said with her smug smile. “And I know Sabrina will be joining me, right?’

Sabrina looked over at her. “Of course, I will!”

Tori looked at Marinette. “You don’t have to decide right away Mari.”

“I know.” Marinette smiled. “I’ll talk it over with my parents and I’ll call you when I get an answer.”

Kagami nodded in approval at the brochure. “My parents are always striving for me to be in the best of any school, this sounds like a good trade.”

They rest agreed in unison. And it was settled, they would join the coven and become a part of the top school of magic. Study their craft there, keep appearances in their mortal school if they will it, and…whatever their plan was after the whole ordeal. Tori turned and let the group talk it over before going to his aunt downstairs to let her know.

In her office, she was typing up an invoice for the last family’s service with her. Tori watched for a bit before sitting down in front of her.

“Hey Julie?”

She looked up from her computer. “Yes Tori? Is everything alright, your friends looked pretty upset.”

“Things are fine now, but I came to ask you a coven related question.” He leaned forward. “How do you feel about accepting seven new members into the family?”

That got her to stop typing. “Well, coven orientations tend to take time to put together. Of course, there’s always last-minute enrollment if it’s serious?”

“It’s Caline, I don’t think I need to say what else there is.”

Julie nodded and tapped her fingers in thought, this would take some time to put together indeed. Of course, she would need the families to consent to the school change first and foremost as well as to join the coven, then there was calling the senior mages to come and welcome them in, catering was going to be hell as it took a lot of energy to perform the spell so food was essential, and the fact that the ceremony was a day long…a week would be what they’d need to get everyone welcomed in.

“It’s going to take a long time to set this up, do you and your friends think you can survive the old school for a while?” she asked.

“We can try, but we can’t promise results.”

“Then you eight focus on school, try not to give the liar the time of day and get the parents’ permission first. Start there, and then we’ll work on the ceremony from there.”

“Thanks Auntie!” he got up and hugged her before rushing upstairs to tell the others the news.

*  
To say that school has been hell would be an understatement. Ever since they’ve returned it’s been harder and harder to pretend that the teacher wasn’t being stupid; history was on the witch trials of old and the blatant disrespect for the families who had survived the ordeal. It took all that Marinette had to grab Tori and keep him down, she didn’t need him to actually perform a curse on the class. He reluctantly sat back down and took out his own sketchbook, he wasn’t much of an artist like Nathaniel, but he still used this as a way to keep himself calm and to prevent Hawk Moth from turning him. Last thing Paris needed was one of their heroes akumatized, he saved Marinette from that, but they didn’t need to give that sociopath a new target.

“Listen, Tori. Today’s our final day here, we won’t have to deal with her after this.”

“I know, you’re right.” Tori sighed. “We should focus on after school, you guys get to be coven members today.”

“Yeah about that, what’s the ceremony like? We don’t have to do anything weird like offer blood or anything like that right?”

“I feel the sudden urge to throw a paper ball at you.” Tori shook his head. “No, it’s nothing like that. I can’t really tell you much as I am under oath by the superiors but, I can tell you that you’re going to love Egypt where the coven’s roots started out.”

“Would it be rude to take pictures to hand to Nathaniel as art reference for later?” 

“Depends on what you’re taking pictures of.” Tori nodded. “But I see no harm in it.”

The rest of the class periods went by in silence, when lunch rolled everyone was once again besides Lila’s side while Marinette and her new squad just to the side with a bagged lunch. True, Chloe was against the concept of just having a sandwich and fruit but she agreed as they would be flying out of Paris later today and could have a better meal during the flight or when they got to their hotel. They agreed to keeping their plans in the shadows, knowing that if anyone even mentioned they were going to be going to another country Ms. Bustier would just jump in and try to pry into business that wasn’t hers.

“So, what about you eight?” Lila chimed.

“What about us?” Marc challenged.

“We were talking about weekend plans, what are you doing?” she pressed

“Afraid we can’t really give you too much details.” Kagami said sharply. “But if you must know, we have family affairs to take care of.”

“All eight of you?” Alya asked, eyebrow raised.

“Look, right now, we can’t talk about it; I promise when things settle for us, we’ll tell you everything. Just, promise me you’ll be patient?”

Both girls looked at each other before reluctantly agreeing to his terms. They went back to their conversation and that was the end of that for the time being. With luck, lunch went by rather smooth and so had the rest of the day! With everything that was said and done, the group left the school and went straight to the funeral home to pick up their suitcases before they car pooled with Chloe and Kagami to the airport where they would fly out to Cairo. From Cairo, they would take a boat over to where the ceremony would be held, since they were going to be there for a week, they could enjoy the sights and have some fun before the midnight hours began. It was just a matter of hours now.


	2. Welcome to our Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which we decided to add more things, introduce familiar faces from the other Ladybug fic, and make things flow easier.

The sun was hot and glaring, a normal afternoon in Egypt. Aside from the rocky school day, everything had been smooth sailing. Flying first class was a dream; drinks and good food, tablets for movies, and better seats. The hotel was just as amazing with plush beds, a view of the pool below them and adding in the fact it was more of a palace than a hotel just added to the charm of the place. After everyone had settled and got into more breathable clothing, Tori led them into town and took them to various stores, restaurants, wherever he could think of. Nathaniel and Marc were immediately taking pictures and even sending copies to the girls. Marinette, Sabrina, Aurore, and Chloe were looking over various dresses and jewelry and having a mini fashion show before buying what they liked the most. Kagami was usually pulled along into whatever shenanigans such as riding on a camel, but she was having fun so that’s all that mattered to the group.

As this was going on, Marinette had noticed that Tori was led off somewhere for the time being; she assumed it had something to do with the upcoming coven welcoming that would be held that sunset, yet she couldn’t really help herself in thinking of various scenarios ranging from the extremes to something minor like setting fire to sacred robes with a candle. Chloe noticed her stressed look and laid a hand on her shoulder to bring her back to earth, they still had plenty of time to have fun before anything official, it was best to live in the present. The two girls smiled at each other in silent conversation before Chloe led Marinette off to one of the dance studios where the rest of the group was – Belly Dancing class. While some of the group members were the graceful type; Sabrina, Marinette, and Marc, Kagami, there were those who weren’t so graceful; Chloe, Nathaniel and Aurore. Still in the end, they each had fun and when classes were over sunset had arrived. They always say ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ and the people who say that were always right. After another food stop it was already ten at night and they were at the docks waiting for their boat. Tori was away from the group and was by his aunt and other adults, he and the other coven members had a sash on, some were adorned with a gold cobra and others a silver cobra. Marinette watched the group for a bit, biting her lip out of nervousness.

“What do you think those colors mean?” she asked.

“Different rankings?” Nathaniel offered. “Maybe some members are higher on the food chain than others? I mean some of the cobras are silver?”

Chloe nodded. “Maybe a gold cobra means you’re important?”

“Partially right.” A girl around their age approached them. “The gold cobra goes to those who are able to trace their bloodline to here. Silver cobras are for those who married into the coven or who were invited in. You guys would be getting the silver cobra.” She had long dark red hair that reached her midback and her hazel eyes hidden behind black framed glasses, her skin a deep tan.

“Silver cobras like the one impaled on your pin?” Marinette choked out. “Isn’t that…a bit disrespectful to Tori’s family? I mean, his family’s symbol is a cobra and you’re wearing a symbol of a cobra being stabbed….”

“That’s the symbol of her family.” Said a boy with lavender hair, blue eyes framed with red glasses as he approached. His own pin being a lotus with the hood of a cobra on its petals. “Meet Adela Crina, head of the youngest of the three families; the House of Dracul.” The girl gave a little curtsy. “And I am Joe Dupont, head of the Fleur Family, the middle of the three families.”

“Wait…Joe as in…Cerberus Joe?” Chloe’s eyes lit up. “Oh my god! Sabrina! Sabrina it’s our Zoey!”

Sabrina rushed over. “You remember us, right? D. Mouse and Honey Bee? Francis and Louis? You saved Chloe from dangling over a building?”

“How could I forget having to carry our team through someone waking the Witch?” Joe laughed and looked at them with a curious expression. “I see Tori finally got you roped into the family now, huh?”

Chloe huffed and crossed her arms. “Don’t flatter him, we were going to join eventually…we just…needed a good excuse and leaving that stupid teacher of ours was a good enough reason.” She turned back to him. “But enough about us, what are you doing here? I mean, I’m not saying I’m not happy to see you, I am, because now I can corner you into giving me your cellphone number so we can text; but…I thought this was a Sennen welcoming? But you just confirmed you were of a different family?”

“When it comes to the welcoming ceremonies, the big three have to be here.” Joe explained. “Well, as in, the three founding families; we’re kind of needed for this part.”

“Not to mention, each ceremony is different; for this…” Adela paused. “Well, you’ll see soon. But for now, do you have any other questions for us?”

“What are colors of the sashes for? I mean…what do they represent?” Marc asked

“Blue, red, yellow, green, black, and white played a role in Ancient Egypt; for example, blue was for the sky, water, the heavens, primeval flood, creation and rebirth. River gods such as Hapi were depicted with blue skin, and the color was often paired with gold in royal regalia and jewelry.” Adela explained. “For Tori, being a spiritual user, he would wear black as it was for death and the Afterlife, the night, endurance, and stability. Of course, it was also associated with fertility and regeneration of the land. The sashes just show where you’re more skilled in.”

“How will we know what color we’re going to get?” Sabrina asked.

“That’s the fun thing about coven welcoming ceremonies, you also learn what your attribute is. Of course, spoiler you can master spells outside your normal circle.” Joe smiled. “Come on, we’re ready to board.”

More photos were taken, and more idle chatter until they came to their destination, the Valley of the Kings, where the group traveled on foot and lead by the light of the torches. While most if not all grave sites were dug up, there was still one that the coven had managed to keep hidden with a simple illusion spell and that was the stone wall on a cliff that everyone went through. Into the tomb of the magicians. One by one torchers were lit showing the room in all its glory, hieroglyphs painting the life and the accomplishments of the magicians of the past adorned the walls, old staffs and other magical artifacts standing proud and leading to where the bodies were in a far chamber (Nathaniel almost dropped his phone when he was informed that the stone tablet he was trying to get a picture of was their founder’s grave). One of the older members of the coven picked up one of the staffs and murmured something to the image of the painting before him as he led everyone to where they needed to go; an empty chamber, save for an alter with a statue of a cobra sitting in the center.

Now, it could have been watching way too many movies, but Marinette paled a little bit after seeing the alter. She looked to Tori for a silent reassurance that everything would be alright. He gave a small smile at her and a thumbs up, ‘it was going to be okay; you have nothing to fear.’

“Hello again, everyone, it has been some time since we’ve last met up. Tonight, is one of many joyous occasions as we welcome seven new individuals to the Sennen Coven.” The leader started. “My name is Elaine, the current head of the family; welcome back everyone, it’s wonderful to see the family again.” She smiled to the crowd. “And welcome, to our new family members.” There were scattered greetings from the others, and the small group of students waved to them.

“Now, for those who don’t remember, the way the Sennen Coven welcomes its new family members is through the approval of the gods; now naturally, we can not have them physically appear as they have their jobs in their realm of existence, so we must ask the three heirs to step in their place.”

At the mention of the three heirs; Tori, Adela, and Joe were escorted up to the three thrones that sat beside an altar. Unlike Adela and Joe’s, the throne Tori was seated in had chains that kept the boy in question bound. Marinette shot a questioning look to her friends who in turn shook their heads; they had no clue why Tori had to be bound, but they were a little on the nervous side of things after seeing that. When Tori’s chains were fastened, three plumes of colored smoke flew from one of the bowls of flame, flowing into Adela, Joe, and Tori’s faces, as their eyes shone a blinding light, their bodies moving more inhumanely. 

Joe began to twitch like a beetle, small mandibles poking out of the corners of his mouth and his eyes blacked out. Adela’s skin turned into a sort of dark green, not unlike the sashes shown by some of the other members surrounding the three. Tori’s change was the most abrupt, his hair slicked back and more feather like, his grey eyes were huge and were mostly black from the giant irises in the center, and a sharper facial expression as he looks over the chains that bind him.

“While I appreciate the concern of my husband, sadly, he couldn’t make it” Joe spoke up, twitching “Anubis couldn’t find his Ma’at feather so things are a little backed up.”

“Our apologies, my lord.” Elaine spoke up. “But we were uncertain of the risks; Spirit after all is the beginning and end of all things and we had to take the precaution in case Lord Ra of the Heavens failed to show up.” She bowed.

“It’s quite alright.” Tori, no, Ra spoke softly. “We know how Anubis can get on a ‘good day’, now then.” He turned his attention to the seven students. “I believe we were about to conduct the first of many coven welcoming; which of you would like to have the honors of starting the evening off?”

Marinette took a step forward to the altar and timidly raised her hand. “J-Just to make sure…I mean, I know Tori said we don’t have to do anything crazy but…seeing as you the gods are here and he’s not-”

Osiris chuckled. “Be still.” He said softly. “I assure you, blood sheds are only done in sin-eating, or being sworn in an oath between the elven race. We prefer to keep things simple.” She nodded to the candles before them as well as a bowl with black paint in it. “Lady Elaine, if you will.”

Elaine took a small bowl with paint and drew three circles on her forehead and three different runes in the circle.

“Life, death, and spirit. Three of the main circles of magic and connected to one another.” She started.

“Like a coven, the three are connected through unity.” The rest of the coven spoke in unison.

“It is through this unity that keeps us strong.” She held out a white candle before her. “That unity will help you ignite your hidden ability, close your eyes and let the spark out.”

Marinette did as she was told. In most cases, the flame would glow a solid color showing what her attribute was and the wax would turn into a secondary color, the stronger the flame the more powerful the user. However, what happened with her was a solid bright green flame for life, but also a gold and brown wax for balance and earth. The green flame was huge that it nearly engulfed the candle itself! It burned bright for a while, once it extinguished itself Marinette was given a solid green sash with the silver cobra emblem.

“Lady of Life; Marinette. We welcome you to the Sennen Coven.” Ra greeted.

The other flames that followed were similar, first was Sabrina, a jet-black flame shooting up from her candle, nearly scorching her eyebrows, green wax dripping down the candle as she was given a black sash. Next was Chloe, again green like Marinette, but instead with a yellow dripping wax, much like honey dripping from the hive. Marc and Nathaniel were pretty much similar, both flames green with similar colored wax as well. Kagami’s red and Aurore Yellow.

“Quite the assortment we have tonight.” Osiris mused. “There seems to be more Life users than usual.”

“So it would seem.” Khepri agreed. “We usually see this spike over in Olympus, seeing them in the Sennen family is new as they’re usually filled with mutts.” He looked to Ra. “No disrespect of course.”

Ra waved his hand in dismissal. “Regardless of their type, they are still family.” He smiled softly. “And like family, we protect one another.”

“So it is said, so it is written.” Khepri said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marc: Life/Creative is his main. Astral/Moon is his secondary  
> Nathaniel: Life/Creative is also his main. Balance is his secondary  
> Sabrina: Astral is her main. Life/Nature is her secondary  
> Chloe: Life/Nature is her main. Wind is her secondary  
> Kagami: Fire is her main. Balance is her secondary  
> Aurore: Wind is her main. Earth is her secondary


	3. Musical Meetings

Looking at the pictures and the gifts their friends had sent, they couldn’t help but to miss them. Alya and Lila understood why the transfer had started and they were told that they would work on getting them into a coven so they could get out of Caline’s class, but it still didn’t mean they couldn’t miss them. Besides, it wasn’t like Marinette and the others were going away forever, they could still meet up and hang out when school got out…like today! The group were hanging out in the park and going through some of the pictures that were taken from their time in Egypt; laughing at some of the failed belly dancing, gushing over the ensembles worn, and even poking fun at someone like Chloe for trying out camel racing! When they weren’t ogling the pictures, they were honed in on the uniforms they wore; the girls wore a black a-line skirt, the girls wore a black box pleated skirt with a button up shirt in the pastel of their branch’s color under either a sweater vest (Sabrina, Chloe, Kagami,) or hooded jacket (Marinette, Aurore), each outfit though was able to be modified to have embroidery on the skirts and shirts, and their choice of footwear so long as it wasn’t open toe. The boy’s uniform was similar, black slacks, a button up of the more solid color of their branch, sweater vest (Nathaniel) Or hooded sweatshirt (Marc and Tori) and choice of footwear, again, no open toe, though that was only the uniform for the Sennen family members. Other students have on hoodies with flowers embroidered on them, or are wearing jewelry of pewter with multiple gems on it.

“Okay, I think I got this.” Alya started out. “Gold shows where you are on the food chain, but…does wearing a gold snake count if the person wearing it isn’t allowed to wear gold.”

“I can’t wear gold jewelry; I can wear gold colored fabric but not the precious metal itself.” Tori explained. “Same with silver, I cannot wear silver jewelry.”

“And the reason why is because…you’re still inferior to the pharaohs?” Lila asked.

A new voice came “Close, it’s more of respect to the pharaoh rather than us being inferior.”

The group looked over and saw Joe walking up in his uniform; a lavender hoodie with lilacs embroidered all over it and black pants and sneakers, beside him was Adela who was wearing a white shirt with a vest black shirt with pewter charms with black diamonds on it acting as a belt. 

Tori smiled and nodded. “Pretty much, granted the high priests and my ancestor wore gold, but…I’m not really part of the main court so I’m not allowed to.”

“I still feel embarrassed for buying you that golden cartouche for your birthday!” Chloe groaned. “It’s like giving kryptonite to Superman for Christmas!”

“Look at it this way, at least you didn’t try giving me royal regalia.” He poked at her. “But enough about my sad tale of being denied of gold; we have guests with us!”

“Yeah, about that…we are going to be invited into the school too, right?” Alya asked.

“Not right now, again we need to build up a case, and too many transfers will have Karen-I mean Caline suspicious” Joe said, looking down a bit as he sat down “But aside from that, we’re working really hard to get openings for you and your friends”

“Technically, you are accepted into the school.” Adela spoke up. “You’re pending right now until you join a coven, and…given that the gods had already dealt with seven new members in one night, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to join the Sennen Coven.”

“That’s another thing, while it is true, we got Marinette and the others in on short notice; a formal welcoming takes a while to put together. I’m sorry, but until we find a family to welcome you and your friends in, you’re going to have to put up with Ms. Bustier for a little longer.” Tori bowed his head.

“Especially for the Fleur family, because we have to go through the entire process of getting all the gods together and it's like a million guesses as to where Zeus and his crotch gremlins are and then it has to be unanimous about if we’re accepting new members and it's like doing the Twelve Trials with only one arm while on fire”

“If it helps any, there’s actually no rule saying we can’t homeschool you and the others in the craft.” Adela grinned. “Just so long as your teacher is either a coven head, an heir to a coven, or someone who has mastered a specific field.” She looked around with a false surprised look. “And would you look at that, there’s three heirs to a coven sitting right here! Any one of us could skip on over to your place and guide you along the way!”

“Yeah, and that way you can give us any details we need to know in person, as well as fit in a bit more in case Collinswood does an open house, we’re still needing to get a reply for that” Joe smiled, sitting down and admiring the dew covered garden they were sitting in, in front of their school.

“Speaking of which.” Tori sighed before whistling, summoning his windboard. “Lunch hour should be nearing its end and you two have to get back to class.”

Lila paled at the sight of the board. “Can we fly with someone else? I don’t like that thing, there’s nothing to hold onto!”

“Just hold onto me, I’ll hold onto Tori.” Alya choked out.

“Don’t worry Tori, I’ve got this” Joe whistled himself, summoning his broom, what looked like a cream and lavender L sectional couch and coffee table hopping on the back of it, turning a Bird of paradise pendant into a gondola paddle as the couch hovered “Hop on Ladies”

 *****  
With the welcoming meeting over and with the lunch hour over, classes were to begin and to Marinette's surprise, her first class was a music class of all things! This class was amazing, it helped with Tori's Snake Charm when he was the Hooded Assassin, and the other bonus was that this fell into the creation branch of Life, so he got to be in the same class as a familiar friend or two. He smiled and sat beside Marinette and gently nudged her before waving, she giggled and waved back. From the other side of the room he caught side of the others; Chloe, Marc and Nathaniel and waved to them as well. They smiled and waved back. Like with every school, before the teacher came in everyone was getting to know the new students, catching up with friends, or were polishing up assignments last minute. From where Tori was seated, he was watching as a brunette male waltzed over to the trio and introduced himself; he didn't need to hear what was being said, he could tell from how the trio laughed and the other's stances that they were actually getting along just fine. 

The chatter came to a halt when the door was pushed opened and the teacher strutted in dressed in tuxedo; his black hair was slicked back, he wore a half white mask covering the right side of his face and in his hands was a golden wand in the shape of a conductor’s stick. He flicked his wrist and had the marker write his name on the board.

“Welcome and Welcome back everyone, I am your teacher for the year; Eric Bardon.” He bowed a bit like he gave a performance. “And I know what every fresh student is thinking; why a music class? Well, as Creation users, sound is one of the branches that some casters work with. For example, Mr. Shai? Could you come down and give us a show?”

Tori stood up and walked down to the front of the class, he cleared his throat before performing for the class. He kept his eyes on Marinette as he sang, eyes glowing a bright silver.

_“Tonight we dance_   
_I leave my life in your hands_   
_We take the floor_   
_Nothing is forbidden anymore_

_Don’t let the world dim my sight_   
_Don’t let a moment go by_   
_Nothing can stop us tonight._

_“Bailamos, Let the rhythm take you over_   
_Bailamos_   
_Te quiero amor mio_   
_Bailamos_   
_Gonna live this night forever_   
_Bailamos_   
_Te quiero amor mio, te queiro”_

As he sang, his intent was clear. Dance. Marinette couldn’t really help herself from standing up and dancing to Tori’s hypnotic voice, she kept dancing and moving like she did in Egypt and only stopping when Tori ceased and ended the charm. He took a bow as he returned to his seat, leaving everyone in surprise. Bardon gave a clap and returned to the students.

“As you just witnessed, Mr. Shai mixed in a Balance branch with sound, never underestimate the power of creation. Now then, would anyone else like to try a hand?”

A blond girl stood up and walked down with a flute case in hand, once in the center she took her silver-plated flute out and gave a small bow before performing. The melody she performed was beautiful, with each note played Tori felt everything slowly changed around him. No longer was he in a classroom, but now in a garden with blossoms gently falling from the trees and landing in his hair, a clear summer day with a gentle breeze, and roses as far as he could see! It was beautiful, it was peaceful, he really didn’t want to leave from this beautiful place he wanted to stay. That wish was denied when the song had ended and he was snapped back to the reality he was in; a school classroom. Everyone was looking around in a daze, they were trying to figure out what had happened, they were in their own fantasy and were brought back.

“Wonderful Allegra!” Bardon applauded. “Simply wonderful!”

She giggled and bowed again. “I’m glad it turned out that well, I’ve been working on that piece for a while now.”

“And as usual you went above and beyond.” He smiled as she went to an empty seat in the back.

Allegra sat beside Tori and smiled, giving a small wave to him and Marinette. Their teacher went on teaching about how sound could be used in the other branches of the craft and other introductory lessons, the trio took this chance to whisper among themselves.

“You were amazing.” Marinette praised.

“Thanks.” Allegra smiled. “My name is Allegra.”

“Marinette, and this is.” She was about to introduce Tori when she was interrupted.

“I know who snake boy is.” She nudged him. “He’s always working on a new hypnosis charm while in here.”

Tori just looked at her blankly. “Snake boy?” he asked.

She pointed to his sash. “Your coven emblem.” 

A sharp note was played from the piano, their teacher had banged a few notes to get their attention. Once attention was back on him, Bardon nodded slowly.

“It appears you three are in perfect harmony. Perfect! I was just about to assign a group project, you three are now partners for this assignment; perform a three-part harmony that can make a rose bloom. This is due three days from now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Used: Bailamos by Enrique Iglesias


	4. Open House at Collinswood

Collinswood was alive with not only magic users but also the mundane folk. Open houses were always a success for their school; good or bad they got attention in the outside world, and tonight would be no different. The teachers welcomed families with open arms and invited them to indulge themselves in the massive dining hall to enjoy any and all wonderful treats before their rendition of Alice in Wonderland began. At the head of the dining hall were the teachers and the three heirs to their respectable covens overseeing the event before them; students from both sides were getting along nicely – even if some were a bit annoyed, Kim was one example where he kept listing his achievements in the sports world (He…still hadn’t grasp that both realms were entirely different, he was trying at least). Max was with some of the top alchemy students, they were impressed by his AI and he was impressed with some of their members transforming led into gold (he nearly begged for them to teach him). But what impressed the three heirs more was how fast Alya clicked with Carla and her icy corner, Miraculous Media and the Ladyblog became two of the well-known sites for any and all news on Ladybug and her allies.

Of course, like every sunny day, there was the inevitable storm. Tori turned his gaze to the teachers and watched as his former teacher was seated with the others talking about their students and any and all lesson plans. Mr. Bardon was happy to report how a boy’s quartet featuring Joe, Claude, Felix, and Nathaniel caused a beautiful marigold to bloom with their rendition of Fall into Me by Emerson Drive, heck, he even showed off pictures of the flower in question to everyone. Mr. Boniface was detailing how he was going to introduce the class into charting out the stars, true they may know how to see through the stars’ eyes, but nothing was more important than navigation and this lesson was sure to be a perfect way for their future. And then there was Caline…Tori had to smirk, this was going to be a good show for the evening, he was certain that this would be more entertaining than their rendition of Alice in Wonderland!

“Well, my class is doing very well ourselves, we just elected a new class representative, though so far things haven’t been as great as last year’s rep, I have a feeling she’ll be a great fit” Caline preened, not noticing poor Rose about to have a panic attack just recounting everything to Sabrina and Chloe in the small refreshments table. “Also, a lot of my students have done so many extraordinary things as well, Lila, our newest student, just returned from a 3-month excursion to Achu, and since some of our more, troublesome, students left” She gives a disappointed glare to Tori, “Things have been so pleasant”

Jackson, the Frost teacher, ran his hand into his snowy locks and sighed. “There are so many things to unpack from that alone, I don’t even want to touch that particular suitcase.” He ignored the surprised look from Caline’s face. “However, I will say this, please kindly refrain from disrespecting our students; especially the ones who are born to lead the next generation of the craft and their futures. Mr. Dalimar-Shai, though young, has shown remarkable leadership skills in annual Coven Crosses and a lot of our sister branches of the Collinswood name has been getting new updates with each year.” Tori just grinned proudly at that.

“That still doesn’t excuse his behavior from when he was in my class. He’s been disrespectful in every sense of the word from talking back to me, to even trying to take control of the lesson at hand.” Caline sighed. “I understand, he’s not a normal human like the rest of the class and he’s not used to how a ‘mortal’ school is run, but that doesn’t give him that right to act out.”

“Excuse me, but, please don’t disrespect my friend like that again, he knows exactly how a ‘mortal’ school as you call it is run, apparently more so than you, I should say that the lesson Tori ‘Tried to take control of’ was about _his_ family, _Our_ family, and your white washed, ‘Witches bad, mortals good’ cranberries in stuffing, basic ass Karen lesson was mocking us!” Adela spoke out clearly annoyed.

Caline just scoffed at the girl and looked to the teachers “Excuse me are you going to let this child speak to me like that?” She says clearly not knowing, or even paying attention, to the fact that she just insulted one of the three heads.

Agrona cleared her throat and took out a book from her purse. “At Collinswood, we encourage the right to stand up for our families in anyway shape or form. Should a student feel a teacher is wrongfully targeting another, they are well within their right to challenge the teacher in question in a civil and stern way. If both parties are at a stalemate, an emergency meeting with the Headmaster may be issued to find a common ground or to rectify the situation.” She read out. “Lady Crina is well within her right to stand up for her brother, she is the future head of the House of Dragon – The Dracul Branch, just as Lord Dalimar-Shai is well within his right to defend the families of the other covens. From our understanding, you were only focusing on what the church had claimed on witches rather than focusing on both sides; it is true we have had some bad seeds within our groups, but that’s life. There’re bad doctors in the worlds, there’s bad witches in the world, there’s even bad teachers in the world. Teaching one side of history has never gone well in any healthy classroom setting.” She put the book away. “Perhaps, and this is coming from a history teacher, I believe an update to your school’s history book is in order. Maybe even a fresh curriculum as well. Fortunately, that’s what we’re here for we are _happy_ to donate to schools in need and we are getting a new set of books so we have some old history books that we would love for you to have. It shows a lot of things that people tend to forget.”

The entire dining hall went dead quiet, all eyes were on the beautiful Celtic teacher. Her name was no coincidence and her fiery red hair added to her brutish appearance – along with her muscles and tall stature. Agrona’s muscles were not only for physical needs, they were actually mostly for show as she knew how to murder someone without the need for brute force. She just needs one small opening before hitting them what would hurt her targets most; prideful people had been shredded by her.

“Miss Agrona.” Tori walked over and cleared his throat. “I thank you for standing up for Adela and I, however, I must ask you to please stand down as this is our battle.” He looked Caline dead in the eyes. “After all, I think you made your point perfectly clear and I wholeheartedly will authorize the delivery of our old history textbooks to Francoise-Dupont. After all, it’s what she’d want a _model_ student to do isn’t it, Ms. Bustier?” he said with an icy smile.

Before Caline could voice anything out, the bell chimed signaling the end of the welcoming banquet and to inform everyone that their welcoming show was about to start. Tori just grinned and made the announcement with the headmaster that all guests are required to head straight for the auditorium and to find a seat. Meanwhile, he and a few others went to the backstage area to get ready for the show. Tori was performing as the white rabbit that evening and Marinette was their beloved Queen of Hearts, as for their Alice…well, that’s what they had Felix for. Light blue vest over a white blouse and tight navy pants he took center stage and the show began. The play itself was definitely not what anyone would expect when they hear the title Alice in Wonderland. Instead of the fun and silly world that everyone was accustomed to, this show was dark and sinister.

Meanwhile during all of this, alone, out in the hall, not wanting to give the performance a watch, was Caline, angry at being humiliated by a child, god it just, it just!

_“Burns you up? Hello Inferno, as you know, I am Hawk Moth, you were burned by students you thought to be the ‘Best Example’ and now you want them to have the favor returned, I can give you that, in return, give me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculouses, do we have a deal?”_

“They’ll know not to play with fire after I get to them!” Caline stands up, the swarm of dark magic coming from one of her earrings.

*****

Someone had let Hawkmoth in. Someone had _let Hawkmoth in the school_. **Someone had let Hawkmoth into Collinswood!** This was bad for any other school as most mortal schools didn’t have protection charms, the only way someone like Hawkmoth to get through was if someone had invited him in. But they had invited most of Paris to their open house, there was no time to fret about that now, they had an Akuma to take care of.

Marc and Nathaniel left the audience and rushed to the halls with some of the other Creation students, they would have to buy time for Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Hooded Assassin. Granted they could also wait for Queen Bee and Madame Grey, but Inferno – as Caline was called now – seemed to be a quick work. Regardless, they had to work fast. Nathaniel took out his sketchbook and hurried to draw a simple Chat Noir, he had the important details in place before drawing some runes around the page.

“Animari!” he yelled out.

The picture sprang to life and ‘Chat Noir’ was on the scene. Both boys had given the simple order, whenever a Chat Noir went down, animate the next one to take his place just until the real one could show up. This act definitely pissed Inferno off to no end, with each Chat she destroyed another one would take its place, some of them were more realistic to the real one and some…well it was clear which artist was good at certain mediums (One Chat Noir was a humanoid panther). Her rage grew and she nearly torched the dining hall and she would have if not for a small wave of water, courtesy of Carla and some of the other elemental users.

While this was happening, Tori had made his way on the second floor and watching the scene below him. He and his allies had made it to the scene and right on time. This would be fine and dandy to just sit back and let the other magic users handle Inferno, but right now they needed to get the akuma and purify it. He turned to his allies and crossed his arms before speaking.

“Okay, we have a lava girl downstairs being pit against creation and elements, the akuma is in her earrings, how are we going to get close enough?”

Chat tapped his fingers in thought. “Maybe Madame Grey could Indian Jones whip the glasses off her face and I could cataclysm them?”

“That won’t necessarily stop her from torching the jump rope.” Ladybug said. “Let me try something, Lucky Charm!” she tossed her yoyo in the air and caught…a folding fan.

A folding fan? Queen Bee’s eyes lit up at that and took it without a second thought. “I got it! We get the wind users to create a tornado around Inferno!”

Catching on, Ladybug nodded. “Cut off the oxygen, the fire won’t grow or live. Inferno would be weak, Grey could lower Assassin down the center to get the Akuma and throw it to Chat Noir to break.”

“And you purify the akuma and the school can breathe a sigh of relief.” Chat Noir finished. “Let’s do this!”

Queen Bee had rushed to the group of elemental users and whistled, showing of the fan in a silent suggestion. The wind users left the group and followed her to create the tornado trap, sure enough the plan was actually easy. Inferno was on the ground holding her chest and trying to catch her breath as Tori had casually took the glasses from her and tossed them to his feline and ladybug partners. One Cataclysm and purifying later, things were back to the way they were. Of course, this would be great if all of their battles were this easy, but they’ll just settle for the school for now. Caline was back to her normal self, open house had to be over for the night so that the students who stayed on campus could relax and get any and all last-minute homework done that they ignored during this time. Of course, the school does offer their students to return home if they wished it, or they could stay in the dorms the school provided. As of now, Tori and his team had their assigned rooms at the school, but there were nights they just wanted to go home and just flop on the familiar bed and being surrounded by familiar posters and only having the group chat on the bedside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Agrona: Derived from the old Celtic element Agro meaning "Battle, Slaughter"


	5. Welcome Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose has joined the party

**Ice Queen:** I thought you said the charms were to keep ill intent out.

 **Snake Eater:** They were, but clearly Hawkmoth got in via civilian form. I doubt he was hoping to akumatize anyone today until Miss Hot Head blew up at us. By the way, Marc? Nate? You two were amazing with your team tonight.

 **Super Nate:** Thanks, it was Marc’s idea and we had to buy you time.

 **Stormy:** Does the school do aura checks? Maybe the teachers could tell us who Hawkmoth is?

 **Honey Bee:** Doubt it, the reason for open houses is to provide students with challenges. However, I guess if it were a normal day or a holiday they would. Besides, how does an aura check even work in cases like this?

 **Snake Eater:** Everyone has a signature aura. This is basically how I found you Chloe, everyone gives off a type about them; this could be good, bad, or neutral and you were borderline bad. This could also tell what element you are suited for as well. Now, an aura can be influenced by a third party.

 **D. Mouse:** Like a Miraculous?

 **Snake Eater:** Especially a Miraculous. Take the ladybug miraculous, her power is the power of creation, anyone holding that would have a spike in the creation field.

 **Fashionista:** Is that why my candle engulfed the tomb we were in? Because I had Tikki?

 **Snake Eater:** Sort of. The only way the flame would have engulfed the tomb like that is if you were a pure user. To give you an idea of how pure users work; Pure Spirit users are always born with silver/grey eyes. Pure Life users are always born with oddly colored hair. And Pure Death users are either born with acidic green eyes or sharper canines like a dog.

 **Bastet:** I was born with Feline canines, does that count?

 **Cerberus:** Probably? We’d have to ask some of the elders.

 **Bastet:** Ask them, when I can start coming to Collinswood? I swear it’s like you guys are trying to break this kitty’s heart, I’VE BEEN IN THIS CLASSROOM FOR FAR TOO LONG AND IT’S BEEN TORTURE EVERY DAY! THIS IS ANIMAL ABUSE, TORI!

 **Foxy Reporter:** Adrien, chill. Tori has a plan in place…of course, it would be nice if he sped things up a little bit.

 **Snake Eater:** Rest assure, after the stunt from last night I can squeeze you in. After all, Juleka got Rose out and I had nothing to do with that except show up at the welcome ceremony. As for the rest of the class, expect a little invite from my school. We’re moving the battleground to our school and it’ll be easier to get you all into your respectful covens.

 **Vulpe Vixen:** And you call me a trickster.

 **Snake Eater:** I’m a snake, Lila, it’s what I do. 

The next day at school was lively as ever. Everyone was talking about the attack last night and their role in the fight, some students were laughing and poking fun at some of the artists for the Chat Noir idea (mostly the panther one, it eventually became memorialized as a painting in the creation hall. ‘Panther Noir’). But all in all, everything was in good fun. Even the elemental users were laughing and teasing their own in a lighthearted way. Earlier in the morning, Marinette had shown up to breakfast with a bag; inside it was three boxes, they weren’t the traditional zodiac elements – which was fine, the less of those running around the better. They didn’t need to give Hawkmoth a new target – instead they were silver bracelets with the characters mind, body, and soul. The group was a little confused about the layout, but they trusted the leader on this.

“Good morning, my queen!” Claude had hugged Marinette from behind. “You missed out on the amazing fight last night!”

“No, she didn’t, she was with us and the others!” Marc protested. “She drew one of the Chat Noirs?”

“But she didn’t join in on the tornado spell.” Claude countered.

“I think the only reason that spell went well is because they had someone who was filled to the brim with hot air.” Felix smirked as he sat down. “I won’t lie, I had fun making it rain ice and snow on her.”

“Look Sabrina, Kagami finally has someone to rule the ice kingdom with!”

Kagami just tossed a raisin at Chloe. “You be quiet.”

“Anyway, we _have_ to do another show again!” Claude exclaimed. “Mari, you were perfect!” He hugged her and spun her around again. 

“Okay Claude, you can put her down now.” Allan laughed. “But he is right we have to get another show going, maybe we can do something with romance instead?”

“Oh! I got it; we could totally do the story of Cinderella! Put Felix in the role of prince charming, Mari as Cinderella.” Allegra grinned at Felix’ scowl. “Come on, you know you want to.”

Felix scoffed at that but didn’t honor an answer. “Regardless, you said something about getting more students here from your old school. You’ve kept talking about a plan, care to elaborate with the rest of the class?” he narrowed his eyes slightly at Tori. “Aside from getting my cousin into the family.” 

“Relax, it’s something I’ve been working on for a while.’ He grinned. “See, before I showed up, Francoise-Dupont would be invited to show up to a school that would host them for a while. I’ve made sure to ask to keep Caline herself from showing up, of course like the bratty teacher she is…she dragged us down with her.” He popped a blueberry into his mouth. “I’m being nice and inviting her to this wonderful school along with the rest of Dupont, including the School Board and Principal. I’m going to kill two birds with one stone.”

“Tori, have I ever told you that you scare me sometime?” Chloe asked. “No, seriously, there’s days you scare me and that Mother Gothel smile you’re wearing isn’t helping at all!”

He waved his hand dismissively. “Details. In any case, we do have the day to finish up and I have a coven welcoming to set up for Adrien. Oh right, I have a welcome speech to give for Rose when she shows up later this afternoon.”

“Such is a busy life of a coven leader.” Joe patted his back. “Then again, I have to get her dorm ready and Adela has to get her school work situated.”

“I’d say ‘that doesn’t sound hard’ but, knowing how the coven heads work…there’s more than what you’re saying.” Marinette muttered. 

“You would be right.” Felix nodded. “As of now, since Lady Elaine is not in Paris, if this school wants to make any sudden changes, they would have to go straight to Lord Tori here. He may be a student like us, but he has more responsibilities on his shoulder than Sir Joey and Lady Adela. Such is the fate of the Sennen Head.”

“You make it sound like I’m prophesied to die!” Tori blurted out.

Felix just smirked at him. “I mean, no disrespect to our elder, but…Master Mahad did die an untimely death and he was the head of the family. As well as a pure spirit user, who’s to say it won’t happen to you?”

“Okay, but Master Mahad was killed by a crazy guy, he didn’t choose to die early.” Joe spoke up. “Besides, he doesn’t have to do the work alone, Adela and I will help him, that’s what family’s for.”

Felix just hummed. “Well, in any case, we do have classes to get to, I understand that Allegra, Tori, and Marinette still have to perform their flower spell.”

*****

The sound of the flute filled the room accompanied with the snapping of fingers. Allegra, Marinette, and Tori had finally found a song that would make their rose bloom. It took a while to find the perfect song that would encourage the flower but also to fill the class with the feeling of love in the process. Pure love was the intent between Tori and Marinette, the image Allegra wanted everyone to see was their ideal wedding day as she played the flute.

_“Bells will Ring, the sun will shine_   
_I’ll be his, and he’ll be mine_   
_We’ll love until the end of time_   
_And we’ll never be lonely anymore_

_Because we’re going to the chapel_   
_And we’re going to get married_   
_Going to the chapel_   
_And we’re going to get married_   
_Gee I really love you and we’re going to get married_   
_Going to the chapel of love”_

The rose took full bloom and gave off a vibrant ruby color. Mr. Bardon gave a round of applause and congratulated the trio on their remarkable teamwork and gave them a passing grade; like with the boys and Fall into Me, he took a picture of the beautiful flower for later. With that class out of the way, Tori began planning out the coven welcoming for Adrien on the side as he made his way to the dining hall; like with the beginning of the year, he was greeted to the tables being moved so everyone could see the center table where Juleka, Luka, and Rose were seated. Rose was giving everyone a shy wave and a bright smile, she knew her girlfriend wouldn’t steer her wrong, but it felt a little weird that their table was isolated from the others. Her smile brightened when she saw Tori make his way to the podium at the head of the dining hall, he cleared his throat and began to speak to the class.

“Good afternoon everyone!” he greeted. “We’ve been through quite the month together, from welcoming a new family member at the beginning of the year to having an akuma in our walls, I think it’s safe to say everything we’ve been through makes us stronger in unity.” He accepted a few cheers. “But this isn’t about our accomplishments in taking down a weak akuma like Inferno, this afternoon is about welcoming our new sister or cousin in some cases, I would like to introduce everyone to the newest member of the Rose Garden; Rose Lavillant, not only is she the newest member of the family but she is the lead singer of the indie group called Kitty Section!” That got a lot of cheers and a blushing Rose, she hid her face in her hands and made a little sound. “Oh, don’t be modest Rose, we have someone who Jagged calls his honorary niece.”

Now it was Marinette’s turn to blush. ““Ahh Let it go already!” Marinette blushed and hid in her hands. “I just design for him!”

“Open house said otherwise.” Kagami teased. “He was close to adopting you and your family after all.”

Tori chuckled and settled the crowd again. “As I was about to say, Today marks a special occasion and for such when a new family member enters our school; today’s dessert is Qara’ ‘Asali.” He fell silent. “Also known as baked pumpkin; or as some of you heathens – Claude – call it, ‘Pumpkin Pie without the crust’.”

“Hey don’t call me out like that man, especially on _my_ coven’s welcoming!” Claude gave the other the middle finger “And it's exactly what it is! It's all the spices and junk without the crust, ergo Crustless Pumpkin Pie!”

Rose quietly looked to Juleka for an explanation, to her surprise, her girlfriend just shook her head and leaned down to whisper to her.

“This happens every time those two are together, you should have seen the coconut debate at the Fleur Family Reunion.”

“What was the coconut debate?” Rose asked timidly.

“You don’t want us to answer that.” Luka said. “Trust us, it’s best not to bring it up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vulpe Vixen: Lila   
> Snake Eater: Tori   
> Honey Bee: Chloe  
> D. Mouse: Sabrina   
> Cerberus: Joe   
> Ice Queen: Kagami   
> Fashionista: Marinette  
> Novelist: Marc  
> Super Nate: Nathaniel  
> Foxy Report: Alya   
> Stormy: Aurore


	6. History Tutor and Welcoming Francoise-Dupont

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS WAS A NIGHTMARE TO WRITE HOLY FUCK!

The ceremony wasn’t entirely what Adrian had expected in the least bit. If he had to be honest, it felt unnerving feeling the gaze of his friends stare him down as he made his way to the altar where Tori was. Holding an old scepter, giving the welcome speech, handing Adrian a lit match for him. The tomb was aglow with a huge black flame; He was a pure Death user, well…it explained the canines at least, of course upon closer inspection the feline look was because Gabriel had them filed for three years straight (that man was adding more and more things to his list of offenses, Tori was just ready to choke Mr. Agreste). Still, he came back from Egypt with a black sash and silver cobra, as well as a living cobra that was resting on his neck – his father had protested about it but was quickly silenced when he saw the sharp gaze of an Elder staring right into his soul. In all honesty, Adrien was rather pleased with this turnabout, his chaos was still growing and he was enjoying every little second of it – hey, maybe after he helped Tori bring the pain in his school, he could ask if they could remove his father next?

After packing what was important to him; fresh clothes, a few games, fencing gear, a few books, his phone, and whatever else he could fit in his new dorm room, it was time to begin a new life as a Collinswood student. He sat on the bed and watched Sir Hiss slither around to get a feel of the room, Plagg was sitting on the desk watching the snake and shaking his head. His kitten was a pure Death user, that was no surprise; aside from his kind action it was that aura that steered the Guardian to him to bestow the power of the Black Cat to, still the whole thing with the Guardian and the magic community was a mess; yeah, his kitten broke the identity rule – which, he was proud of, but he only did it because Ladybug did and Ladybug only broke that rule because of the Assassin’s outburst that one night. So, all three had their identities known to their class, was it a troublesome thing? Maybe, but it was because of their reveal that made it easier for the class to cover for them in case of an akuma attack. Those three were the epitomes of chaos, and he was perfectly fine with it. Well, everything else could wait later, all this serious thinking made him hungry and damn if the Collinswood kitchen wasn’t calling his name. He could almost taste that sweet camembret right now.

The welcoming went by without a hitch, and Adrien was seated with his group once more. Alongside with the usual talk, Tori had confirmed that an invitation had been sent out to their old school and that they should be expecting their class to show up within the late afternoon, for the time being, their morning was going by normal; classes went as expected, Adrien was shown where his classes were and everyone was ready to jump on the chance to help him catch up on what he had missed at the beginning of the year. He was currently with Carla in the gardens going over history notes together.

“Thanks again, Carla.” Adrian sighed.

“Hey, what are family members for?” She smiled and opened his notebook. “You take such amazing notes, how are you still struggling in history?”

“Mostly because this still goes over my head.” Adrian blushed a little. “And the fact that the House of Dragon is vague and…I seriously don’t know what I’m doing.”

Carla shrugged. “Yeah that’s family for you, we all have skeletons in our closets; back in the days of the Pharaoh, Shadow Alchemy was used. That’s all I’m going to say.”

“So…what did Dragon do that makes their history vague?”

“Okay, I’m probably going to get murdered by Adela for this – she’s neutral with this, but she hates how her family history has to be compared to this – You’re familiar with Castlevania right? That’s essentially what happened, Dracula’s wife was wrongfully executed and Dracula retaliated by slaughtering all of Wallachia.” Carla looked down and sighed. “It’s why her side of the family is hard to study on.”

Adrien looked down and tightened his hold on his pen. “The Massacre is the reason the Dragon family is split into Dracul and Belmont, right?”

“And the War of the Roses was how two families bloomed from the Fleur Family. The Rose Garden – Allan’s family the Red Tudors, and then there’s the White Lancaster family – Claude’s family.” She nodded. “It’s not uncommon for families to split for a cause, of course we do have our standards. We never meddle with mortal affairs unless it affects us: The Rose War? Some idiot decided to have a druid mess with time, two teenagers from our time were suckered into a battle, so naturally the family of the time had to step in. Wallachian Massacre, well…vampires, undead, yeah…getting mortals involved is never a good idea. Now a normal war that’s started by mortals? We stay out of it, their strife is not ours.”

“And if push comes to shove?” 

“If push comes to shove, we step in and drop kick someone into a ravine with a lovely dose of Calabar bean.” She shrugged. “It’s always a mystery how people mistake a killer bean as a black jellybean.” 

Adrien stared. “Wait…you poison people!?”

“We couldn’t have done it without Mistress Demeter’s knowledge of plants. Persephone grows them, Demeter distributes them, and we use them to get rid of mortal problems.” 

“I feel scared, what about the case with Hawkmoth? Are you going to poison him?” 

Carla stared at him and raised an eyebrow. “Adrien, sweet sunshine boy, the fact you asked me that with a joyful grin on your pretty little face concerns me greatly.” She shuddered a little. “Anyway, we have to get you caught up before our favorite school gets here.”

 *****  
It didn’t happen often, but when it did the students of Francoise Dupont were on the edge of their seats in excitement. Their school was invited to visit an exclusive school – usually high-class academies and get to study under them for a few months! The only reason, Bustier’s class hardly showed up to these exchanges was because Caline was never invited and she made sure to take her class down with her. A childish move and it definitely showed, it was putting her on thin ice and she didn’t even notice! But this year was different, everyone was huddled close together as their teacher came in with the envelope, this was it, they were going to take the toxic fight to Collinswood. Of course, their excitement was one-sided, after everything that had been going on, it didn’t take long to put two and two together. Ms. Bustier was a little hesitant in reading the name; it was Collinswood, she remembered their last time over there and it led to one of her students being akumatized! She was scared in letting that happen again, but the school did claim that they take care of their own so there might be the chance that an akuma won’t harm her classmates again. She could do this, she trusted that this school would set a perfect example to her class, she was caught up in her own toxic fantasy that she failed to have seen the smirks on her students’ faces.

As they entered the halls of the school they were greeted to the portraits of Magicians of old and the next magician of the current generation. Alya, Nino, and Lila were standing before one of them; a painting of an Egyptian mage in Priest robes, a gold ring around his neck, and a familiar jade bracelet on his right wrist. Beside his portrait was one of Tori, standing prim and proper with his raven hair held back, his grey eyes shining with mischief, and a charming smile to put anyone at ease. 

“They look related.” Alya pointed out. “I mean, aside that Tori looks pale, but don’t they look it?”

“Get your eyes checked, the other man has more of a brunette hair.” Lila scoffed. “That and his eyes are more of a darker violet, he doesn’t look related to Tori at all.”

“Look, you know what Tori said about how things are; the Ptolemy period was when the Greeks were entering Egypt and with nations in general migrating to different areas it ended up to where we are today where we’re just a bunch of mutts.” Nino reminded. “So, maybe his family did start with this guy and because of things is why he looks paler than him.”

“Genetics is a funny thing like that, isn’t it?” Tori walked over. “Your ancestry could say you started out from one area, but today’s day and age say the further you live up north the paler you become. Both are true and yet not so much.” He waved his hand. “But now and days people stop caring about that, and I’m sorry…I’m being rude, let me start over.” He spun in a circle before standing as prim and proper as his portrait. “Welcome Students of Francoise-Dupont, it’s wonderful to see everyone again. Welcome back to Collinswood, my name is Tori Dalimar-Shai, heir to the Sennen Coven, to my right is the heir to the Fleur Family, Joseph Dupont – no relation to your school, let’s not flatter ourselves.” His demeanor changed for a brief second before returning to normal. “And to my left is Adela Crina, heir to the House of Dragon. Specifically, the Dracul branch. We welcome you to our halls and hope you’ll get along nicely with everyone. Now then, do we have any questions?”

Right on schedule, Ms. Bustier raised her hand. “Hi! First off, I want to thank you three for allowing our school to stay with you for a spell.” She started off, giggling at her bad joke. “But…also, what is with the paintings here?” she pointed to the portraits. “I assume the older ones are people of importance?”

“You would be correct.” Adela spoke. “The older portraits are of those who had founded our coven, for example; the lovely maiden’s portrait is Demeter, you may know her as the Goddess of Harvest.” He nodded to the middle two pictures; one was of the Greek Goddess herself, and the other portrait was of a lavender haired boy. “Demeter was the first to have branched from the Sennen Coven during the Ptolemy period and returned to Greece where she started the Fleur Family. The boy’s portrait is Joe, who as Tori had said, is the next in line of the family.”

And then Caline had to raise her hand again “And what about that man in that portrait that looks like Dracula from those silly video games, I mean honestly, making that monster seem more human while also killing an entire village, it’s just too dark for me”

If looks could kill, Adela would be charged for massacre, she was held back by Joe who had a slight worried expression on his face as she tried clearing her thoughts before speaking again. “Let me tell you a story, madame.” She started. 

“You’re aware of the crusades I hope, a religious war that had campaigns between 1096 and 1271; during one of such, there were two noble knights Leon Belmont and Mathias Cronqvist. During his time in one of the battles his beloved wife Elisavetha died from an illness. Struck with grief, he turned to alchemy, in deep mourning he devised a plan to take revenge on the Lord by becoming a vampire and living eternally. Of course, this sparked the feud between Dracul and Belmont, but that wasn’t the end of things. Around 1456, Vlad later invaded Wallachia with Hungarian support and plundered Saxon villages, he took the captured people and impaled them. It took four years before peace was restored in 1460. Since then, he had remained dormant, never once showing himself to the world of mortals until a young woman named Lisa came to his castle in search of knowledge in medicine. Funny thing, she reminded him of his late wife, but that wasn’t the reason he became involved with her, she was bold, headstrong, determined, he taught her everything she needed to know about medicine so she may help people. Unfortunately, this was also the time of the witch trials.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. “She died at the stake, her final words to her son were ‘Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm, for theirs is already a hard lot.’ He didn’t begin his war upon humanity until 1476. That was who Lord Dracula is, a man who lost his love – twice, a man who fought alongside Hungary and Moldovia, and a man who achieved the impossible and finding a way to live forever – if you can ignore the whole no sunlight, silver, and the need to survive on blood aspects. He was a man of science and of arcane. Cruel, perhaps, but only to those who wrong him.” She crossed her arms. “And I’d appreciate it if you don’t compare my family’s history to the video games.”

Wanting to clear the tension in the air, Joe cleared his throat and brought everyone’s attention back to him. “Well, that’s that I suppose, let’s begin our tour and get you settled. Everyone, follow us now.”

The rest of the tour went slightly well; the school was shown where the classes were and which teacher the staff would be shadowing and then finally to the guest dorms. To the side, Tori made sure to let his class know that he could do underground ceremonies; they weren’t entirely official, but they were official enough to get them transferred into the school. It was enough for now and they would have until summer or winter break to solidify their spot into the coven. The group seemed okay with the arrangement, and agreed that they would make sure to break from the others to meet so they could be welcomed in. With everything said and done, it was time for dinner.

Dinner was actually something else! The Dupont kids were greeted to seeing a few students on roller-skates and rushing by table to table, returning to the kitchen where it smelled like heaven! Mouths were watering at the sight of the plates, it looked like a traditional pot roast dinner with a slice of pumpkin pie for dessert and warm cups of apple cider! Jackson was the first to approach the group yet again with a bright and cheerful smile.

“Right on time!” he clapped his hands together. “Arthur’s cooking today as well as some of his family members.” He nodded to the kids on skates. “He’s always coming up with new ways to serve dinner.”

Caline was still a bit in shock, even more so after hearing that a student was in charge of cooking. “You have your students cook for others?”

“Naturally, while we do have a chef that works full time, we do encourage students to help when needed. It not only helps strengthen the unity of their families but it also helps them learn how to cook their own meals outside of school. We will always prefer home cooked meals over fast food or frozen meals.”

“And…are we expected to do the same?” Mylene asked.

“While you are here with us, you will be treated as a Collinswood student.” Jackson nodded. “You will receive a notice in your dorm on when to report to the kitchen and what your role is.” He pointed to the head of the room. “Of course, our heirs will be going over the guidelines with everyone as well as the informational books we left for you in advance, never hurts to have a refresh course.”

Lila raised her hand. “What if you have limited knowledge at cooking?”

“Well then it’s a good thing we have recipe books and someone to guide you along the way.” He smirked. “What better way to learn than hands on experience?” He backed off. “Now then, find a seat and dinner will be served.”

No-one had to tell the Francois-Dupont kids twice. Without a second to lose, most of the students from Caline’s class and a handful from the others rushed over to the ‘Team Miraculous’ table. Alya wasted no time in squishing her friend into a hug – Lila later had to pry Alya off so she could hog the ‘everyday ladybug’ next. It was a lively sight, and it made Caline wonder why the girl transferred out of their school. It was clear that she had amazing friends, so why? Not wanting to dwell on things now, she made her way to the teachers’ table and sat among her new peers; as always, like with her last visit, she seemed rather oblivious to the body language presented to her. The teachers once more just talked about future plans and how their students were, and once more Caline decided to put her foot in her mouth with her ‘successful’ teaching methods. It was a surprise how anyone didn’t jump over the table to throttle her, perhaps it was just best to ignore her and carry on.

“Headmaster, you said you had something for us for Halloween next month?” A man with black hair spoke up, he had a red dress shirt on that looked burnt in some places.

The headmaster nodded and took a drink. “Yes Anatolius, I was thinking this year we focus more away from scares and more on the other aspects of Halloween. I was thinking a costume contest for the fertility of things; and before anyone asks, I am banning the use of Ivy from Soul Calibur. We all saw what happened last year.”

“Are you sure you want your students to be in ‘revealing’ costumes?” Caline asked.

“Where did we lose you?” Bardon asked. “Was it the ‘other aspects of Halloween’? Or was it perhaps ‘the fertility of things’? Not everything on this holiday is scares, of course, tomorrow in history you’ll learn all about that. I do hope you’ll pay attention to the lecture if not…well I’m sad to say that your inability of being professional will be known and you’ll most likely be the laughing stock of the teaching community.”

She looked offended at that. “Mr. Bardon-!”

He held up a gloved hand “Hush, the welcoming speech is about to begin.”

Right on cue, Tori took to the center podium and stood with a proper poise yet again. “I should be getting paid for doing all these speeches.” He smiled at the laughs. “Thank you. Now then, I would like to formally welcome Francois-Dupont to our school and that we’re happy to be included in their exchange programs – despite previous grievousness, but bygones be bygones after all.” He folded his hands together. “Now then, they will be with us until the second month of Spring so until then Joseph, Adela, and I would like to remind everyone of how things are run here; First of all, you will have a guidebook in your room, this book explains everything from the rules of our school to how festivities are operated. Such is the case with Halloween, while we do celebrate with costumes, candy, and scares, we also celebrate the harvest and spirits. I would like to ask our guests to please be respectful of our holidays, if you are unable to do so – please refrain from joining such festivities.”

Joe took to the mic next. “Second of all, Francois-Dupont, you will notice that not only are your staff here, but also your schoolboard. Unlike most schools, we wish to show behind the scenes to board members so they can take notes if they wish to implement some of our ways into a nice blend at your school. Any offenses will not only be treated by our headmaster but also to your board members. Keep in mind, we are a no tolerance group, bullying of any kind will not be accepted here.” He made sure to lock eyes with some of the teachers as he said this. “Of course, this won’t be an issue as here in our schools around the world; we treat everyone as family. Disagreements will happen, it’s the way of life, but while you’re here you _will_ be treated like us, you will be treated as if you’re at a family reunion.”

Adela was the final one to speak. “And finally, to wrap things up so that the three of us can have something to eat, while it is possible for you to learn the craft with us we would like you to keep in mind that due to certain events we may have to bind some of you. Now, before anyone explodes in outrage, please understand that a binding is done so that we may monitor you; we cannot risk any reckless behavior with magic – for example, pyro users, should you abuse your powers not only will you be hurting those around you, but to yourself as well.” A slight glance to Caline. “We will bind you to be sure that you won’t be causing harm with the craft. I do hope you all understand why we would do this, but do know that a binding is never forever. At most it would be a month, at least perhaps a week or two.” She clapped her hands together. “With all said and done, let’s enjoy our first dinner together. Thank you and we hope you enjoy your stay with us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> History Time:  
> Wallachia: founded in 1330. Historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. So yeah. Wallachia was a real place from 1330-1859.
> 
> Dracula: Vlad the Impaler, born in 1431 in Transylvania into a noble family. His father was called Dracul meaning Dragon or Devil in Romanian because he belonged to the Order of the Dragon. Dracula means "Son of Dracul" in Romanian. Obviously, there's more to this history but I'm not going to delve deeper. I'll answer what I can.
> 
> Other notes: Okay, so I mixed in the actual Castlevania games with history. Fight me.
> 
> Name Meaning: Antolius - From the Greek Ανατολιος (Anatolios), derived from ανατολη (anatole) meaning "sunrise". Saint Anatolius was a 3rd-century philosopher from Alexandria.
> 
> Calabar Bean: Extremely toxic which can cause excessive sweating and saliva, reduced pupil size, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, irregular heartbeat, blood pressure changes, confusion, seizures, coma, muscle weakness, paralysis, severe breathing problems, and death.
> 
> Beware the Fleur Family.


	7. Historical Moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who says you don't learn from fanficiton?

Lila flared out her red skirt and looked herself in the mirror; long curled and wavy hair with layers, dark orange lipstick, heart earrings and a cherry necklace. There was something missing but she couldn’t really think of what was wrong before it dawned on her; she immediately got a white beret on. Now everything was perfect – especially with her black blouse, her white stockings with red flowers, and her black heels. It was time to start her first day with the others in Collinswood. Granted there was always a chance that she might have gym so her looks might become less flattering, but for the time being she was going to strut out and be the envy of all that she sees – well, that was the plan with her MDC original white beret that is.

“Looking good, Lila!” Alya walked up to her. “Who are we trying to impress today?” 

Alya was sporting a black shit with a fox, jeans, and her hair in a messy ponytail. Casual, yet adorable. Lila smiled and gave a light shrug before answering her, “Just the school. I mean this is our first day as official students, I just thought I’d dress to impress our new family members.”

“And since Chloe is in a uniform, she can’t out-dress you.” Alya teased.

The two laughed and made their way to breakfast, the hall was lively and Nino was beside the kitchen door with some of his DJ equipment; they were confused until he started to play a techno remix of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice and had his kitchen mates help by casting a spell on the plates to deliver themselves to the students and teachers. Both couldn’t help but to laugh and hold their sides, it was clever but so ironic at the same time! Wiping the tears from their eyes, they made their way to their usual table where they were greeted to a surprise of their own – a heated conversation about a video game. Now, Alya wouldn’t lie, she knew that Chloe had been in the videogame scene because she hung out with Tori – it was still a surprise, but to be invested to the point where she’ll have a heated discussion? She was still getting used to that. Even Lila was surprised when she saw the fabled ‘Ice King’ Felix arguing with the others; she had a few encounters with him and from what she knew about him…he was cold and distant, much like Kagami so…this liveliness from them was a little overwhelming.

“I’m telling you that Bierce is going to betray us and the evidence is there!” Felix snapped. “You’re just too stupid to see it.”

“Yeah, trust the blood thirsty demon. That’s going to work out well in your favor.” Claude replied. “Look, out of the two; I’d rather trust Bierce over Malak any day.”

Another day of the boys going at it in Dark Deception. Marinette actually found the sight amusing, whenever the boys of the group got their hands on a horror game it always ended in theories discussion or debates like this if the next chapter had yet to be released. She preferred the fighting games herself – games like Soul Calibur were here guilty pleasure; Chloe and Sabrina were usually suckered into whatever game Tori dragged them in, she wouldn’t be surprised if they got roped into the Dark Deception debate as well. The thought alone made her giggle. Aurore and Kagami enjoy their guilty pleasures with dating sim games like Mystic Messenger, it was so cute seeing the two giggling at their phone. Everyone had their preferences, and it was so fun to watch regardless.

“Boys, I think you’re better off just waiting until the next chapter comes out. It’s the nurse level, right?” Marinette asked.

Tori looked over at her and nodded. “Yeah, it looks like the nurses are going to be on scooters or something. And it’s taking place in an asylum.” 

“Oh fun, it’s Silent Hill all over again!” Chloe groaned.

“Okay first off; there’s more than one hospital in Silent Hill, you’re thinking of three and origins.”

“Regardless of which hospital we’re still dealing with killer nurses! It was hell enough when those damn clowns were chasing us in cars!”

“Okay, I’m not that well-versed into Dark Deception, but I am knowledgeable in The Deception Series?” Lila spoke out, she shrank a little as all eyes were on her. “The First game is your character makes a pact with the devil in order get revenge on his brother who framed him for the murder of their father! You leave traps and you can choose on who you want to have live or die – I usually kill the invaders for power, of course every choice has consequences, but it’s still fun!”

“I’m noticing an eerie trend when it comes to games dealing with deception.” Marinette muttered. “But uh…if you have a copy of the game?”

“I don’t think dad will mail my copies over.” Lila lowered her gaze.

Felix shrugged. “Then we use the emulator.” He took out his laptop from his bag and handed it to her. “Find it, download it, and we’ll play it later tonight before Astrology class.”

It was from that moment the two realized that mornings were never going to be normal. Not like it mattered, heck, back at Francoise-Dupont, there were times where the class would ask Tori to perform some magic tricks. If they weren’t talking magic before Ms. Bustier showed up, they had Max pull up the projector so they could watch the latest game play of something. Alya still remembered when they were planning the ‘Horrificator’ Movie that they tried to use a scene from Spirit Hunter NG – it was shot down given the fact that it was a bit too advance on the special effect usage. Still, him bringing in mystery games or horror got the morning started on the right foot (even if it was painful to see Kim throw everyone into a death trap because he wasn’t paying attention to the screen). Clearly, this morning was going to be something similar as Lila just complied and got the entire series onto Felix’ computer, in all honesty she was a little nervous in doing such since she’s heard the rumors of the Ice King’s reputation in the world. But Adrien confirmed that his cousin wasn’t entirely bad, so it was okay!

With the rest of their breakfast done and their conversation about games dealing with demons – ranging from Deception to Silent Hill, from Death Mark to Castlevania (Adela didn’t mind the game so much, just as long as they don’t mix in her family history with it), it was a lively conversation that ended up circling back to Felix scolding Claude, Allan, and Adrien about siding with Bierce, just as he was getting more into his point the warning bell had rung. The table pouted and went their separate ways, the first class of that morning was Music for Marinette, Chloe, Marc, Nathaniel, Claude, Tori, and Allegra. For Alya and Lila, their first class was a history class with Adrien, Felix, and Allan – well them and the rest of their class that was ran by Caline, but they were more focused on their first class. To be honest, they were pretty nervous but a reassuring smile from Adrien and Allan kept them at ease – that and the energetic energy from their peers, this class must be a really popular one in Collinswood, they decided. With everyone in their seats, their teacher came in soon after; dressed professionally in a black A-line skirt, a white blouse, and a black blazer jacket with little pumpkins covering it showed her muscles. Her fiery red hair and her sharp emerald eyes along with the posture showing dominance and power, Agrona smiled at everyone and welcomed them to their first history class, and also welcome back to everyone who’s been here before.

“Since we have some new faces with us, let’s review last week’s lesson on Halloween’s history; could anyone tell me where our festivities originally come from?”

Felix rose his hand. “Some historians believed it was from Roman with the goddess Pomona, however, it’s actually more connected with Samhain.”

“And what exactly was the whole point of Samhain?” She sat on her desk and crossed her legs.

This time it was Lila who shot her hand up. “Oh! marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Traditionally, it is celebrated from 31 October to 1 November, as the Celtic day began and ended at sunset. This is about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.”

“So, when does the candy and the scary masks come in?” Caline asked, clearly not paying attention to what the lesson truly was about

Joe answered that “We already covered it, 1912 to 1914, Elizabeth Krebs helped make what is known as the Modern Halloween we all know due to the destructive nature of the kids in Hiawatha, Kansas, thus the use of costumes and candy in the way we know now”

“Actually, the practice has been dated back to at least the 16th century, the festival then was mumming and guising and that was the early rendition of trick-or-treating. Of course, originally it was the tradition where people impersonated the Aos Si – the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. But if you want to get really detailed, impersonating these beings or wearing a disguise was also believed to protect oneself from them.” A girl with blue pigtails spoke up. “Not trying to dismiss your answer, Joe, just bringing up that the trick-or-treat aspect is older than 1912.”

It was Bridgette’s comment that sparked the classroom wide debate. Everything from the Celtic origins to the modern-day haunts were being brought up as well as sources were being strewn about only to be corrected by someone else. To the untrained eye, it looked like chaos, but in reality, it was actually civil and students were aggressively agreeing with each other in some topics. Agrona just nodded at the sight and made her way over to a table in her office and started to heat up a counter stove, she barely blinked as she began heating up a kettle of hot water and filling a floral teapot with a fruity tea. She leaned against the door and started humming in spite of the ‘chaos’ that was happening among her students.

The ‘chaos’ as some would put it was put to a stop by a sharp whistle from one Caline Bustier, “Now then! This is extremely disrespectful to your teacher to do this, and I am especially appalled that Kagami and Marinette are also taking place in this, you two were so quiet and respectful back at Dupont! I could see this from someone else, like some other, students” She glanced very tellingly at Max, Adella, and Allan.

“Oh so you’re one of _Those_ Karens” a Belmont student called out from the back.

That got a few snickers in reply, but the rest were honed in on her with disgust, Bridgette especially as she made the silent ‘what the heck’ gesture. There were a few silent glances, wondering who should be the first to bring up the teacher’s remark, but that was taken care of when Agrona came back holding a teacup and saucer in her hands.

“Oh? Is the debate over? Shame, and I just finished making hibiscus tea.” Agrona pouted a bit. “Of course, don’t think I didn’t hear you Caline.” She turned a sharp gaze at her. “I am going to give you three seconds to explain to me why you thought Bridgette Zhao was Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Her voice was ice at that point.

“W-what? But I-I just thought that!” Caline tried to stutter out flustered out of her mind.

“What, that they looked the same? That they were the same, that you clearly didn’t read the register I had you look over to see that she ISN’T Marinette” Agrona spoke, her voice colder with each passing syllable, as the students go to comfort Bridgette “I will have to bring this up with Headmaster Armel, as well as Headmaster Collins, as you just broke one of the rules of the school in terms of tolerance.”

“Miss Agrona, clearly there’s no need to go this far!”

She took a long sip before speaking. “Afraid there is, now then I’ll give you a two-minute head start to get to the office before I call Armel about your appearance.”

“But the office is a thirty-minute walk!”

“One minute.” She stared her down. “Get walking.”

“Miss Agrona!”

“Thirty seconds in counting.” She made her way to her office. “Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven…”

 *****  
“Honestly, I’ve expected this behavior from a teacher in a _low-budget public school_ , but a teacher from an elite college? I don’t know what kind of institute you run Damocles, but this behavior will _not_ stand in our school, is that understood!” Armel shouted.

Damocles wiped the sweat from his brow in nervousness and gulped. “S-Sir, I can assure you that the policies at our school are just as similar as yours. W-We too, have a no tolerance policy when it comes to bullying and…I-I’m certain that Ms. Bustier-”

“Was being out of line in a classroom that wasn’t hers and insulting some of our prized students like Miss Zhao, Miss Dupain-Cheng, and Mr. Cleves as well as insulting some of _your own students_!”

“W-we understand Sir, a-and I can assure you that Ms. Bustier will be on strict watch for the rest of our time here when in class, and again my deepest apologies to Miss Zhao, Miss Dupain-Cheng, and Mr. Cleves” Damocles sputtered out, clearly just saying it so he would be spared from their wrath.

“It better not.” He turned to Caline. “And you.” He pointed at her. “You are on your first strike in this school, I expect a better performance from you here on out. Is that clear!”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong!” Caline tried to protest.

The room temperature dropped a few degrees. “Are you trying my patience, Ms. Bustier?” she tried to deny it but he wouldn’t let her. “Let me tell you right now; if your behavior keeps up, I will get your board involved and I will take great pleasure in watching you lose your license because of your off-colored remark. I’m going to give you one final chance; do I make myself clear when I say you’re on your first strike and I expect you to perform better while shadowing our teachers?”

“Y-Yes…sir…”

“Good…now both of you, get out of my office.”

As this was going on in the Headmaster’s room, over in the gardens during flower meaning test; Chloe was working on a design in her sketchbook. She was grinning, this was going to be perfect! Then again, of course it was, it was her idea after all. She remembered Tori saying he had planned on looking for a new place to meet and what better way to do that and kill a few birds with one stone than this! A shop and a café in one setting! The building was big enough for them to move around and plan, and since Chloe was the owner of it, no one would even think twice about a group of kids hanging out in an empty store. She was the mayor’s daughter and anything she wanted she got, including a spot for her friends to hang out after school. Her giddy attitude had caught on to Sabrina who looked over at her book and felt her eyes shine, she was already planning on buying paint sets for Nathaniel to use for the building – well, first she had to convince Nathaniel first. It was the perfect plot between the two!

“Oh, everyone is going to be so surprised!” she whispered

“You know it!” Chloe turned the page and showed a picture of the studio. “The top floor is going to be a studio for Marinette’s designs as well as a place for Marc and Nathaniel to work on their comic!”

“Is there something you wish to share with the rest of the class, girls?” Fiore asked.

The girls jumped and looked at their handsome teacher; short brown hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. Chloe and Sabrina grinned sheepishly after being caught and shook their heads no.

“Sorry.” They said in unison. 

“Since you appear to be done with your test, you two may head to the Dorm Masters’ office and help them with their assignment for the day before you head to lunch.”

That was surprisingly chill of their teacher. Usually he tended to curse in Italian whenever someone misbehaved in his class, Sabrina had to wonder how he didn’t get in trouble since she was certain there were students and teachers that spoke the language, but she didn’t want to press on any further. Upon arriving at the office, they saw Terra collecting papers from the printer, they looked over at the two girls and handed them each a stack to hang up in the dorms with one simple instruction; tape these notifications to the dorms hosting the Francoise-Dupont Students. A simple enough task, they were certain to get it done before they could get something to eat, after all Bridgette and Marinette were cooking lunch today and they were excited.

“Oh my god!” Chloe’s laughter broke Sabrina out of her thoughts. “Sabrina! Did you read the notices?!”

“No, why?” She looked down to read. Her eyes widened before she started howling with laughter. “OH MY GOD!!!”

_Attention all students of Francois-Dupont, tomorrow morning during breakfast we will be holding an Akuma themed stage show, if you would like to refrain from eating there, please speak to your floor’s dorm advisor for information as to where to eat, your comfort and wellbeing is important to us._   
_Terra Noire – Collinswood Dorm Master_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which earlier today, my partner put down "Headmaster Burns" instead of "Headmaster Armel" and caused us to die xD


	8. Frosty Akuma Battle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Caline gets Iced and Tori gets Nerfed by an Akuma.

It was officially the first day of Halloween and the Collinswood students were working on Halloween decorations. For a brief moment, Nino had almost forgotten that this holiday was important to the magic community, and he was excited to celebrate with them here! Upon entering the dining hall, he was greeted to a warm and familiar sight; Claude was up to his usual antics again, dressed as a jester and going up to fellow classmates and putting on a show of a trick or treater. It got a good laugh out of everyone; he was their class clown after all. A further look confirmed that a small handful of students were wearing carnival masks as a way to celebrate Halloween very early, some students were in simple costumes like a red hoodie and devil horns, everyone was saving the elaborate stuff for the actually holiday itself. Even right now, he was dressed in a green hoodie with a turtle shell backpack on – another original MDC, he was definitely buying another one for the future. 

Looking around he saw his usual group by the window, they were carving pumpkins, and one of the people with the knife was the person they were looking for. 

“Hey Marinette.” Nino greeted. 

“Good morning, Nino.” Marinette looked up at him. “You’re up pretty early, breakfast isn’t for another hour.”

“Yeah, I know.” He rubbed his arms nervously. “I actually wanted to talk to you, if that’s okay?”

“Grab a pumpkin and start carving, then you can.” Chloe ordered. “You have no idea how satisfying it is to scoop the seeds out.”

“I never thought you’d be the one to carve pumpkins, Chloe, but you were always full of surprises ever since you and Sabrina made friends with the new kid.”

“Said new kid is sitting right here.” Tori reminded. “Now then, what’s on your mind today, Nino?”

“I was wondering when the first underground welcoming was going to be?” he asked.

“I think Tori said that Alya and Lila were going to be invited during dinner.” Marinette held up her creation; a bat. “Ta da! A cute little bat!”

“Cute?” Adela repeated. “It looks like it’s going to bite someone’s face off!” She laughed.

Marinette stuck her tongue out. “He’ll bite you and he’ll look adorable doing it.”

As breakfast drew closer and closer, more and more students began to fill into the sweet-smelling dining hall (Oh breakfast was going to be good, they could tell). Nino watched as the Collinswood kids readied their phones or cameras. He had a feeling that breakfast was going to be as outlandish as the first night with the skaters.

And he was right. Marc and Nathaniel came running in, said Nathaniel was on Marc’s back in a piggyback style as they ran down the hall.

“Run! Akuma!” Marc cried.

“The Akuma is coming!” Nathaniel yelled

The Dupont kids instantly tensed up before some dove under the tables in clear panic, did the protection charms failed? They watched as the Collinswood kids were videotaping and remaining calm. the teachers didn’t even seem to flinch at all from the cry of panic, it finally dawned on them as they remembered the notices that were taped to their door. Nino was right the first time, it was an over-the-top show, especially since when the ‘akuma’ showed up it was Joe in some weird getup; a dark purple dress with a plunging neckline, Silver feathers around the collar, an ornate sort of helmet with veins semi showing on the left side of his face, and ice white eyes, he was sitting on a throne seemingly made of ice. Nino tilted his head a bit and saw there was someone in the ice throne steering it like a parade float. Upon closer inspection, it was Felix in it, clearly trying to keep the throne from melting with Joe’s body heat, and making sure it could move

“I am the Frost Queen! I am here to ruin the Autumnal Season so only Winter shall remain! You will now bow before me!” Joe’s voice boomed out, in a sort of hammy Tim Curry as Frank-N-Furter type way

“We’re not even one of your Narnian subjects!” Marc cried

“Too bad! I rule every single realm including yours!” Joe gave a comical evil laugh, adding in a few theatrical ice spells, mainly some snow and flurries over the tables that melted away as soon as contact was made.

“NOT SO FAST WICKED QUEEN OF SNOW!” a new voice came.

All eyes were now on the new figure; still dressed in a classic court jester attire. He did a few fighting moves before posing in a heroic stance on one of Francoise-Dupont’s tables.

“I, Kid Mime, am here to save the day!” he said in an equally hammy hero voice.

The hero and villain ‘fought’ for a bit before retreating into the kitchen where Joe gave a theatrical cry, a purple origami butterfly flew out and Kid Mime grabbed it and turned it back into white with a simple spell. He once more took to the center of the room and bowed for everyone. 

“There will be no akuma attacking this school as long as Kid Mime is around! Now, I have hero duties elsewhere, Kid Mime…Away!” And he sprinted back into the kitchen where his friends were just laughing and getting ready for breakfast duty. As breakfast was soon served; which was a simple stack of blueberry pancakes, American biscuits, gravy, bacon, eggs, and fried apples, they would go out still in their costumes and going to each table for pictures by the other students. Joe was smiling a bit as he felt more in his element, he watched Claude and shook his head.

Once back in the kitchen, Joe turned to Felix. “Hey Felix, thanks again for helping out with the ice throne.” he smiled.

“Yes well, you wouldn’t stop begging me to help.” Felix gently nudged him. “You definitely put on a good show, I’ll give you that.” He picked up two of the plates and walked out to the hall.

Felix and his blunt ways, that will be one thing that would never change. Not that anyone wanted him to change, they were happy with their Ice King and his warm heart. After that little entertaining breakfast show; Marinette handed out pumpkin spiced cookies shaped as ghosts with black icing to not only her table but to the others as well. ‘They’re the spirits of the damned, doomed to be eaten for all eternity!’ Marinette would explain. Lines like that were the fuel needed to give Felix to say his famous line; ‘We have got to start keeping you away from Claude, Mari.’ Ghostly treats; a success. Well, for the most part, the teachers’ table was a little uneasy and it wasn’t hard to tell why – Caline was tapping her fingers nervously, she desperately wanted to tell the teachers how she thought about it; the only thing that was keeping her back was the harsh looks from the board from the table next to them, that and the calm reactions from the teachers.

“I know you usually have students who want to perform for others.” She started carefully.

“If you’re going to say something about it being akuma based, I’m stopping you now.” Bardon said a little harshly. “They usually show up at least once a week, last week before you showed up Tori showed up as Hooded Assassin and did a reenactment of the Pharaoh Battle.”

“And it doesn’t traumatize anyone?”

“The only reason we do these shows is so the actual akumas don’t come after us, we do these to not let the fear of some butterfly bitch overrun our school, unlike, some, schools, we do this to show its ok to show emotions, but not let them over take us”

“That’s why we have our Positivity Sessions in the classroom; to focus on the positive aspects of life and not let anger consume us. Meditation to keep a clear mind, and complimenting each other to reinforce the positive feelings.” Caline had her proud smile. “I’m pleased to say it’s been a huge success.”

That just caused a collective groan from the entire table, Bardon stood up and took his empty plate to the kitchen, he was muttering something under his breath – it was in Latin, so Caline had no idea what he was saying other than he seemed pretty upset. She looked to the others, the frost and pyro teacher just held their faces in their hands with a sigh, Agron was looking at her tea before dumping the cup back into her teapot as well as a lemon slice and the entire sugar bowl before chugging it. 

“That’s great in the short term.” Jackson said. “But what do you do when someone is having a really rotten day? Their cat died? They learned that their grandma is in the hospital?”

“Well, we just tell them they’ll be ok, and to just, get over it” Caline said, as though that would help “I mean, shouldn’t they try to set a good example?”

The table just went dead cold, the remaining two teachers got up and speed-walked away from the table, leaving Jackson with Caline. The icy glare on his face was a dangerous one as he spoke. “Just get over it?” he repeated. “So, I should ‘just get over’ the fact I was made immortal after my death? I should ‘Just get over’ no longer being able to see my family? I should just ‘get over it’ and set an example to others who have a family that could see and touch them? It took me three hundred years before I was able to have a physical form and to connect with anyone and it took another ten years before I became a teacher, five years before I found someone who was in the same boat as me and it took three years before we became a couple. Do you think I should ‘get over’ that!? I still fear that I’m going to wake up and people are going to walk through me like a fucking ghost again!”

“I-I’m sorry.” She choked out. “But it’s been three hundred years, and perhaps it is time for you to-”

She didn’t have time to finish before a gust of harsh winds filled the dining hall. Jackson stood and cleared his throat and apologized to the students for the sudden cold chill he had caused, he also informed them that he was going to collect the students that opted out for the Morning show and that lessons will resume as normal. As he left, the only one at the table was Caline in a frozen block of ice with a horrified expression on her face. Most of the students muttered amongst themselves and shuddered, the Collinswood kids knew that there was one touchy subject that their Frost teacher didn’t like to talk about at all and was usually bitter whenever someone pass it off as nothing. That idiot teacher was going to get herself killed in that school, and most of them weren’t even going to feel sorry about it. 

Morning classes went by with no problem, except during history class where a set of three students just walked in with the Imperial March playing and there stood the said students dressed as Darth Vader and two Stormtroopers, the teacher just lost it and the rest of that hour was study hall. And even then, everyone soon lost it when the Darth Vader student went up to a student (turned out to be Nathaniel) and said ‘Nathaniel, I am your father’ Nathaniel was laughing too hard to even yell the dramatic ‘No!’. No-one was able to get any work done in that class that day. When lunch finally did roll around, Marinette and the others stood by the door and watched as a small group of boys dressed as sharks stood in a circle and locked arms with each other. Someone of the group casted a small tornado spell and they just glided through the dining hall yelling out “SHARKNADO!” once or twice they’d pick the speed to get a good spin on their tornado show, at one point they picked up someone dressed as a cow and yelled “COWNADO!”. Yep. Just another day at Collinswood.

*****

Lila stood beside Felix and pointed out the game. “Okay, so we have the skull key.” 

“And this is where I no longer ask for your assistance, you were useful during the tutorial but now we’re going to play the traditional way and go for trial and error.” He waved his hand a bit. “Thank you though, this game does look interesting and I can see why you recommended this to us.”

Lila smiled and puffed her chest out in pride, she took a page from Tori’s book when it came to introducing new games to others; just simply mention that the game has demons in it and they would be rushing to it with no problem! Of course, it didn’t really help that because this was an old PS1 Game, the art and graphics were…something else, but it did make good fun on making fun of the dialog or making fun of the art style. The trap setting was the fun part of the whole game and after learning of different endings; of course, everyone was ready to jump in!

“Oh fucking hell.” Felix grumbled. “Team Miraculous, you’re needed in downtown Paris tonight.”

Marinette groaned. “But I have star charting tonight!”

“Unless you want a temporary ladybug?” Lila offered. “Of course, if you do that…people are going to be asking questions.”

“And if I miss this class, I have to go into the sparring ring!” she whined. “I’ve been doing good without missing a class this far I don’t want to start!”

Tori stood and stretched. “Look, I’ll talk about giving you an easy opponent.” He held his wrist out. “Remember, Heir to one of the Three Main Families. Sass, Fangs out!”

One transformation sequence later and the others followed suit, Alya was looking over from the bed and grabbing her phone. “Don’t suppose Rena Rouge can join the battle?”

“We’ll see what kind of akuma we’re dealing with and let you know.”

*****

“I could use some help here!” The Hooded Assassin yelled.

Turned out Hawkmoth was getting bolder with his akumas, today’s victim was some thief who got a little too greedy for his own good. That got the villain of the day to become the King of Thieves complete with a red cloak and a red scarf covering his face, decked out in gold bands and jewels, his weapons were duo swords like the Assassin, and the akumatized object was around his neck; a gold ring with a triangle center. Assassin was locked into a clash with him, sword vs. sword as they pounced and slashed at each other, blocking each other’s blow. Both were pretty equal in combat so far. As the King was about to land his blade into Assassin’s raised sword, a familiar red yoyo came flying and wrapped around his wrist, pulling him back 

“Honestly this guy’s speed is a pain in the ass, how did you even manage to catch up to him!?” Ladybug huffed

“I was wondering when my angels would arrive.” Assassin grinned behind his veil. “Snake speed, Lady, Snake speed.”

Before another word was said, a familiar silver staff had made an impact with the akuma’s face before retracting into the hands of a suited figure.

“Looks like the cat’s out of the bag just in time!” The hero smiled and twirled his staff. “I was afraid that our slithering friend was going to take all the fun out of this from us.”

“Nice timing.” Queen Bee greeted. “Now that we have him in place, let’s get that necklace off him!”

It was wishful thinking. The moment Madame Grey got close enough, the Akuma yanked free from Ladybug’s yoyo and grabbed hold of the mouse hero before flinging her with her own jump rope. Well, no, the mouse still had her original, but he only tapped his sword on hers and made a copy. Same strength and everything! The only good thing? He could only replicate two weapons at a time. Venom was tried but the akuma was quick footed and dodged the blow (which sadly had struck the owner of the ladyblog, sorry Alya!), Queen Bee had to retreat from the battle for the time being. One angel down, at least the others were still standing; with Assassin and Grey fighting the King in a battle of swords and whips.

“Maybe it’s time for a little luck?” Chat said as he was swinging at akuma who then swapped out the other sword for his baton. 

“Lucky Charm!” two things landed in her hand; an album of Blood on the Dancefloor, and a microphone.

“Hey Assassin! I think it’s time for you to perform!” Ladybug called.

“Say no more, Hypnosis!” he grabbed the microphone and grinned, he flicked his wrist and let the trance like music fill the air as he started.

He barely had time before the whip came into contact with his mic and took it from his hands. The king looked the snake dead in the eyes as he performed his song. His intent. _Power down, snake, you obey me now._

**“I’m dominant by definition**   
**I’m turned on by your submission**   
**The Dark side is how we’ve been living**   
**Let me show you what you’ve been missing”**

Hooded Assassin’s eyes glossed over as the song began, he reached and placed his hand over mis miraculous with the intent of removing it from his wrist. 

“Hood!” Chat cried. He immediately split the staff into two and made a barrier to more or less protect the soon-to-be detransformed hero from his identity being given, “Come on snap out of it!” he shook him a little, trying to see if he could snap the sea-green hero out of his trance.

Before the Akuma could get the rest of the chorus out, his victim was awakened from his trance when Ladybug came from behind and smacked her ally with a new lucky charm; a frying pan. Assassin blinked and looked around confused, he looked down and saw that he was about to pull off his bangle and quickly put a halt to it.

“What the hell just happened?” he asked.

“You were hypnotized by your own song!” Ladybug cried.

“Wait…where is my mic?” Assassin turned to where the akuma was earlier. He was gone. The next thing he knew was pain. He fell to his knees and showed his own weapon was deep into his back.

“No!” both shrieked in horror, he watched as the akuma yanked the sword out and kicked the body away. “Hood!”

“Chat, get assassin out of here. We’ll take it from here.” Ladybug promised.

Chat Noir nodded and picked up the snake hero, carrying him off to a distant rooftop by the school. Once safe, he gingerly took the bangle off so he could look over his partner’s injuries. Tori looked up at him with a pained smile, he wanted to assure him everything was fine but the pain was preventing him from doing so. Everything was not fine, and everything hurt like hell.

“Don’t you dare say anything, you’re too injured to even speak.” Onyx backed off and looked around. “Okay, think Adrien, what can you do to stop the bleeding and save Tori. At least until the ladybugs come and fix everything…there has to be something.” 

He looked around; black and white shown as a flag, a heat exhaust and the Collinswood building flashed with a sort of green tint with black paws. An idea formed; he grabbed and ripped the flag off of its pole and carried it to the exhaust.

“Sorry Tori, this is going to hurt, a lot! Cataclysm!” 

He called his power as it destroyed the heat cap on the exhaust, the metal turning red hot as he pressed it on the wound, the smell of burning flesh filling his nose. The pain was too much; first Tori was stabbed, now he’s getting his wound cauterized, the pain that kept him from talking now made it so he could form words.

“FUCKING SHIT!” Tori yelled. “GOD FUCKING DAMN!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry!” Onyx to reassure both himself and Tori.

“I am going to fucking kill you for this!” Tori threatened. “Sleep with one eye open!”

Chat ignored his threats as he picked Tori up again, wrapping the flag around the wound as a tourniquet to stop any excess bleeding. Once that was out of the way, he hurried back to Collinswood and got Tori into the infirmary as the ring gave its final beep. The good news; he made it in time and got Tori to a bed just as the ladybugs came rushing in. The bad news; due to the wound being inflicted by his own sword, the cure wasn’t really able to fix the stab wound – Tori would be bedridden for the time being, which means that Paris was left without a snake for the duration of his recovery.

“This fucking suck, how am I going to help by laying here!” Tori crossed his arms.

Adrien shrugged and leaned on the chair by his bedside. “Well, you said the Snake Miraculous was your family’s maybe you could hand it off to someone for the time being. Someone you can trust to carry on the mantle while you recover and after you get the proper stitching.”

Tori looked at Sass who was munching on his tic tacs. “It’s your call; I know I’m a descendant of Master Mahad and thus have the final say in who wields you, but it’s your decision too. Is there someone in mind you would recommend to take my place while I heal up?”

“There is.” Sass popped another mint in his mouth. “Actually, there’s a short list but you’re going to be against them.” He warned.

“Right now, this is an emergency and I really don’t have time to be picky; who are the people on your list?”

“There’s Juleka, Luka, and Lila.” He listed off.

Tori just stared. “No, you are not dragging my boyfriend into this! Hell, you’re sure as sugar are not bringing Lila or Juleka into this! Pick someone else!”

“No wait, Sass is onto something; Juleka and Luka are both musically inclined and Juleka has the stealth approach, however Lila has the ability to manipulate the situation – she doesn’t do it anymore now obviously, but I’m certain she can hypnotize others just as well as you can.” Adrien pointed out. “Sass, can you share powers with others?”

“No, but I can be shared with others. If one times out, he or she could pass me to the next person.” 

Tori just stared with his jaw to the ground. “Oh my god, you two are terrible.” He cried. “Fine, but you’re asking them if they’re alright with it. I’m not letting you forcing this onto them!”

“We promise.” Adrien took the bangle off Tori. “Come on Sass, let’s have Tori rest up and we can go find your temporary holders.”


	9. Secret Meetings, Classes, and Halloween Shenanigans

Today was the day, the day the ladies would become coven members! Well, technically they would be sworn in as ‘Loyalties’ – a term for people who were to join a coven in the cover of night (translation, people who want to get out of a tight situation without raising a suspicion to unsavory people). Still, Lila and Alya were excited, they were whispering theories to each other whenever they would be in class and even more so when they had the free time and they did what they had to do to get ready. According to the letter left by Adela, they had to just bring their textbooks and homework before meeting them in the library – specifically in the restricted section that they did get permission to enter. This was a private study session between heirs and anyone they deemed trustworthy enough to enter the section of the library – after all, they had books and files on things that one would need an Elder’s approval of to go through. Secret Meetings, they were so in on this and they were excited. They kept their excitement level to a decent degree as to not want to alert some of the people of Francoise-Dupont (more so, their homeroom teacher and their principal), the rest of their classmates gave a knowing wink and a thumbs up as well as some jealous glares – nothing too bad, they knew the situation and understood, they were just jealous that two of Tori’s friends got to be welcomed in first. 

When the time came, the two girls arrived at the library and showed their approved passes to go into the restricted section of the room. They were given a key and were directed to the closed room that had a sign saying; ‘Authorized Coven Members Only’ and a taped sign saying ‘Others Must be Invited in.’ A little on the strict side of things, but they shrugged it off and used the key to enter the room. From there, they were greeted to the sight of Adela, Joe, and Tori sitting at the table working on something in their own respective binders and nibbling on some jellybeans that were left in the middle of the table. Lila and Alya sat down and waited for them to be done with what they were talking before they cleared their throats to get their attention; the tree lifted their heads and looked over with a smile on their faces and welcomed them to their ‘Welcoming’.

“Hey, we were wondering when you were going to be here.” Tori greeted. “Sorry for the mess, we’re planning out the winter festivities for the school. Planning out the trips, events, decorations, you know how it is.”

“Yeah, and by we, he means Adella and I” Joe speaks up from the back, chugging from a thermos “Don’t worry, it’s hot chocolate” He groans clearly exhausted, “I swear Dalimar-Shai, you’re just milking this for the long run, ain’t ya”

Tori huffed and narrowed his eyes. “I’d like to see you try and get things approved by the Pharaoh!” He went back to his binder. “I swear, doing the Cinnamon Challenge is a lot easier than trying to get The King of Ice and Snow to approve of outside visitors to show up.”

Alya just winced at that. “If we came at a bad time, we can come again later.” She offered. “I mean, you three are busy as is, and we don’t want you to be set back too much just because we want out of Caline’s class.”

“Nah, you’re fine.” Adela assured. “Besides, half of the stuff we’re working on is now mostly decorations because we’re waiting for our higher-ups to approve of Francoise-Dupont’s visit.” She closed her binder and went over to Tori’s bag, she dug around for a bit before coming back with a faded leather-bound journal and returned before setting it in front of them. “Here we are, the Sennen Coven’s ‘Followers’.” She said with pride. “The first of many books that were made to help future coven family members get out of a tight situation, this one is pretty old but fortunately it’s still recent enough to use for this welcoming.”

“Yeah, good thing we aren’t doing Dracul welcoming, now THAT would involve you putting a drop of your blood in a chalice and drink it in distilled water mixed with the heir’s blood” Joe says completely deadpan

“Oh Ha ha, screw you too Dupont” Adela replies with a familiar one finger salute, “He’s joking, don’t mind him, he gets like this during Halloween”

“So, what? We just sign our names into the book and that’s it?” Lila asked in disbelief. “This doesn’t really seem all that exciting.”

“The exciting welcoming’s are when we get you in officially.” Joe explained. “Given that we’re doing this in the shadows mean we have to treat this like we’re doing a contract signing; I promise you, this winter, we _will_ get the majority of your classmates officiated before springtime comes. But right now, we have to go over the guidelines – just formalities, nothing too extreme, don’t worry.”

“First and foremost.” Adela started off. “By signing your name in this book, you swear your loyalty to the family who owns it, in this case it’s the Sennen Coven. You’re basically swearing to Tori and his family that you would do everything in your power to protect them and in turn they will do everything in their power to protect you as if you were their own. Secondly, as is the nature of this binding contract, you _cannot_ inform anyone of the events that transpired here – don’t worry, they’ll be next in line so just tell your classmates to wait their turn. And finally, and this is important, when we give you the sigil showing that you’re a trusted ally, keep it on your person at all times. It will let the staff know you’re an official Collinswood student by their standards and they will treat you as one of us. They _will_ keep your former teacher and principal off your case at any chance they get. The sigil will protect you from those two, so please…don’t take it off, unless it’s for gym class.”

“Of course, if it were up to me, I’d gladly send her to the underside of Olympus for Cerberus to have a new chew toy, but Tori was being a jerk and said no” Joe sighs, and glares at Tori “I’m sure nobody would miss her”

“And have Anubis come after me for murdering a mortal? I don’t fucking think so.” Tori glared back. “Plus, that’ll get myself bound by the elders and I don’t want that – I doubt ‘She was a toxic teacher’ will fly for a reason to murder a mortal.”

“Break it up boys.” Adela scolded. “You can murder each other in the sparring ring when Tori’s scar heals, for now we have two new sisters to welcome?”

Lila shook her head and took a calligraphy pen from the pen stand and wrote her name down. “I can only imagine how family reunions work in your world.”

“Take this conversation…now times it by ten and add in the topic of coconuts and you have a family reunion.” Joe snickered.

Alya paused in writing her name. “Wait…topic of coconuts?”

“Let’s just say, after what Joe said back at the last reunion…he’s not allowed to make official speeches.” Tori started to laugh.

“It was worth it to see Lord Dracula flip a table, gods, it was like Real Housewives of the Magic Community up in there” Joe laughs “But still it's only until next year that the spell is in effect”

Adela just slapped him upside the head. “Honestly, you have zero respect for the vampire aristocrats.” She huffed.

“Hey, you weren’t any better.” Tori pointed out. “Remember at the Sennen Coven you called Anubis ‘Fury Jesus’ and caused a similar outbreak?” he smirked at her blush. “Anubis nearly burst from the ground to come after you!”

“Again, that was the best thing I’ve seen, and like you’re any better, you literally called Demeter, and I quote, a Stoner grandma” Joe laughed a bit “Man that was something”

Both Alya and Lila just looked at each other with a slight nervous glance; they were just sitting there and listening as their friends casually mentioned how one little sentence could have a deity of some kind bursting into the mortal plane and causing a commotion. Though they were excited to be in the coven – even if it’s unofficial just now – they were actually scared for when reunions come up, they really didn’t want to dodge a flying table.

Noticing their unease, the three assured them that nothing like that would happen. After that, the rest of their time spent was going through the winter planning and talking about classes – even helping them catch up with the rest of the students. And that was another thing, it was pretty easy to get them caught up in the majority of the classes as most were just textbook style lessons; anything regarding the actual spells they would have to make up in a sparring ring, but they would burn that bridge when they got there. Sometime after their tutoring session, the group led the girls out of the archives and down to their next class – a water class actually! The pool itself was huge, probably bigger than the one at the Grand Paris; it was tiled with gentle blue stones as well as glowing stones at the bottom; the glowing stones were aligned in the shape of a flower – a general hyacinth with beautiful bright orange stones. There was a bit of concern from the Francoise-Dupont students about having to go swimming in October of all times, but that’s when the teacher assured them that the stones were special heating stones that kept the water warm all year-round. Aside from the pool, the two girls noticed that everyone had their own unique swimsuit going on – some were the classic school swimsuit look, others had their own personal suits, and some girls were in full body wetsuits, there really wasn’t much to note from the rest of the room that would make too much of a difference to them. Not like it would matter, they were just excited to be going swimming with the rest of the class and they were going to be working on their first ever magic lesson. 

“Welcome everyone.” The teacher walked in. “Wonderful to have you in class again, before we get right into lessons; my name is Kasumi, I teach hydrology here in this school – both for magic as well as science.” She walked over and took a seat in the lifeguard chair. “Now then, do we have any questions before we get right into the lessons?” the only person with their hand up was Caline Bustier. Lord help her. “Very well, Ms. Bustier, what is it?”

“Could you tell us more about your pool?” she asked. “How do you manage it?”

Oh good, a reasonable question. “Let’s start with the stones at the bottom – they’re your standard mosaic stones, except our pyromancy teacher had them enchanted to keep the pool warm year-round. Not only do they keep the pool warm but they are at a consistent temperature to keep everything sanitized.” She explained. “Even then, we do go through the water treatment and do a thorough clean – scrubbing the walls, vacuuming, even using pool cleaners. It’s labor inducing, but so is everything that requires maintenance in the world.” She waved her hand. “It’s backbreaking, but the reward is worth it; we have a nice clean pool and we have our students still active, that’s all anyone truly cares about.”

“Why don’t you use Chlorine” Caline asks “Isn’t it easier? Then you only have to vacuum it when it gets all green”

“You are aware that chlorine allergies are a thing; we’ve had a bad case at the beginning of the year and we’re still kicking ourselves over it.” she looked to one of her students in an apologetic way. “After that incident we decided to return to all natural.” She watched as the redhead before her tried to comprehend what was being said to her, deciding not waste anymore time on this ditzy person she instead turned her attention back to the class.

Today’s lesson was on currants and tides. Kasumi had everyone remember their safe word before the lesson officially started – given how extreme some of the lessons can be, they needed the assurance of the words so the spells could be halted immediately and proper help could be given on the spot. But before they could start, they had to warm their bodies up; into the pool with everyone. Stretching and doing a few practice laps to get the muscles going, it was also doubled as a free-time for the students; some were swimming underwater, some were doing laps, and others were just doing basic stretches. It was a peaceful sight and Kasumi enjoyed, even more so when she took her place on the lifeguard’s chair and whistled for the warmups to finish up so they could begin.

Due to being at the top of the board for this class, Bridgette was standing front and center with Kasumi. The original idea was that Bridgette was going to demonstrate how a ‘rescue’ against the tides worked, but true to form – Kim decided to take the role of the rescuer, it didn’t matter. Bridgette was actually excited to see how a mortal could fare, in fact, she was so excited she didn’t hesitate in diving into the pool and to everyone’s surprise – grew a mermaid tail as well as webbed fingers. She surfaced and held onto her life preserver, she waved to the teacher to signal that she was ready. The tides were casted and Kim dove in to try and ‘save’ Bridgette from drowning…he underestimated how hard it would be, he ended up calling in ‘Spiders’ after thirty minutes of no luck. The water stilled and Bridgette swam up to him, patting his shoulder with a smile.

“You lasted thirty minutes, that was pretty good!” She beamed

“I’m so tired.” Kim breathed out. “How do you do it?”

“Hmm?” she thought for a bit. “A tail usually helps; I can make you one…but I don’t think a swim coach will allow you a tail if you were to compete.” She pouted. “But since this isn’t for competition, a tail could still help you.”

“But you used a spell for yours?” he pointed to her lack of legs. 

“Yeah, but I still make tails for mortals!” she smiled. “I was inspired by MDC, go rest up and I’ll tell you more when I save one of your classmates!”

The rest of the class went like clockwork, a lot of different students had their own method of swimming against the currents – and one actually scared Lila into using her safe word by mistake (Well, could anyone blame her? The student had a shark had, fin, and came swimming right up to her.) Still, despite it all, the lesson was actually a success as usual. With class nearing the end, everyone had the option to do whatever they wanted to until they had to go into a sauna to dry off; Bridgette and Joe were talking with Kim about different types of mermaid tails and even offering lessons in them – well, more like Bridgette was offering the lesson to the two boys. Lila and Alya were playing Marco Pollo with some of the other students, and Marinette was just on an inflatable rainbow boat and drifting along. Nothing exciting, she was just dozing off and letting the waves move her around.

“Move.” Adrien climbed into the boat and laid back. “Cats and water, you know how we are.” He grinned.

She stuck her tongue out. “I love this class so much, it’s a lot of fun playing in the pool afterwards.”

“You can say that again.” He stretched out. “Ms. Bustier hasn’t been her mouthy self lately…it’s starting to worry me.”

“Relax, kitty.” She smiled. “Everything will be fine, just live in the moment of drifting.”

“TOPPLE THE RAINBOW THRONE!” came Kim’s cry.

Adrien and Marinette barely had time to register what was happening before a group tipped their floaty over and dunked them into the pool. Once the two resurfaced, the float was pushed further to the pool and an all-out war of people reclaiming it as the “True Rainbow Monarch” began. People were dunking others, spells were casted (Look ma! No water guns!), even one of the Amish girls came in hot with a tidal wave like spell to gain the upper hand. Kasumi “tried” to get order back into the class, but she was dragged in with a water lasso and she was in on the battle for the Rainbow Boat. The action did surprise Caline and she was about to protest before Adrien decided to go full-cat and shove her into the pool (suit and all) before diving in after.

“To glory!” he raised a pool noodle and swam towards to the float.

Kasumi laughed and swam up to Caline. “Before you ask, yes this happens at least once.” She pulled herself up and out before helping her out. “Water, like Air, is one of the free elements. Always moving and never stopping.” 

“I’m more amazed the school lets your students get away with this.” Caline squeezed the water out of her jacket.

“Well, this is one of our many gym classes.” She reminded. “Helps gets rid of that extra energy and helps our students focus more in a classroom setting.” She stood up and whistled. “The battle ends in a stalemate, there is no Rainbow Monarch as everyone is now going to the sauna to dry up!”

That met with a lot of boos and hisses but the students complied and dragged themselves to the sauna to dry off from today’s class. Kasumi watched and led Caline to her office and took out a spare uniform from the closet before handing it her.

“Here, once you’re dried you can wear these for now.” 

Caline sighed in relief. “You’re actually the first teacher that’s not so hostile.” She took the clothes and followed to a teacher’s only sauna. “I wish your colleagues were more like you.”

Kasumi gave a dry laugh. “The only reason we’re harsh is because you’re not listening; we give you and everyone guidelines and pamphlets on how we run our school, you disregard them and then get upset when we call you out on them. You punish your students for having emotions, and don’t get me started with what happened in Agrona’s class…your actions reflect on your school. We may not like Francoise-Dupont, but we’ll be damned if we let you tarnish your own school’s reputation.” She sat at the top and stretched out. “You say ‘a healthy classroom is to set positive examples’ so practice what you preach; set an example for future teachers and for your students by being a teacher and do your job.”

For once, Caline was just stunned into silence. So much for Kasumi being the rare kind teacher at this school.

*****

Every day Halloween drew closer and closer. And every day, the school was more and more lively; the first week was tamed as most students just wore subtle costumes and did humorous stage shows for the dining hall. But now, it was two weeks before the actual holiday and the Dupont kids were treated to a sight; when they first showed up there were tons of decorations around such as jack-o-lanterns, skeletons, it was like they stepped into a Halloween catalog! Now the entire school was just decked out like a haunted house and the costumes were getting more and more elaborate. To celebrate, the Headmasters had called on a costume contest tonight; this year’s theme was ‘slut wear.’ The only rules were that No-one could dress as Ivy from the Soul Calibur game series (that means you Claude!), other than that everyone could go all out if they wanted. And like a moth to the flame, everyone was going all out. Some decided to go for the classics like sexy angels or devils, but then, you had people like Tori.

Levitating and armed with a few orbs, Tori glided through the halls and entered the dining hall. All eyes were definitely on him; he was wearing white sleeves with a violet mantle around his shoulders, a white robe covers the back of his legs down to his ankles held up by four straps that act as a codpiece, and finally armored dark purple boots with golden buckles. A few of the students gave a sharp whistle as they saw the boy glide by but what really got people cheering was the fact that on his chest were two piercings. Two small golden rings with small bells dangling, ringing as he moved.

“Oh my god!” Chloe was laughing so hard. “Tori what the hell are you wearing!” she was just losing it.

Tori sat across from her and smiled. “What? I’m only dressing as Kuja from Final Fantasy IX.”

“Jesus, if Claude wasn’t the school slut you would definitely win this year!” Allan was dying from laughter.

Sabrina just flicked the bells and laughed. “Chloe! Chloe, he has bells!” she kept flicking and causing the bells to jingle.

Just as things were getting good, Lila came up to the group with the rest of the girls from her class; they all agreed to do their rendition of the Seven Deadly Sins; Alya as Pride with her violet corset top and black mini skirt, a gold crown upon her head and an air of arrogance. Lila decided to go green with envy (of course, hers was a little nod to Poison Ivy with petunias covering her chest and waist, but she was still the garden of envy.). Alix was burning hot with wrath and the tight red body suit said it all and her hair in flares to mimic flames, she had a skull mask on so she’d look like a flaming skull. Rose – surprisingly – was Lust, she was sporting the Lilith look with a black corset and black leather pants with high heels and a set of bat wings and a pointy tail; her pixie cut was adorned with a tiara made of cactus spikes. Juleka was dragging herself in as Sloth, messy hair and a disheveled look in evening wear and high stockings – she gave a cute yawn for added effect. Mylene was probably the only modest with her Greed attire; true she had a bit of a skirt and heels with stockings but she went full on 1920’s glitz and glam with hers, she even had a little cigarette holder in her hand as she fanned herself with a folding fan that looked like a wad of bills. And finally, as their Gluttony, was the girl from Ms. Mendeleiev’s class Mireille; she went full on Queen of England with her look – tight gown that was stained with wine, jewels, and all.

Aurore felt her jaw drop and held her heart. “Oh no, they got to you too?!” she laughed. “You look great Mi-Mi!”

Mireille blushed and played with her top some. “This isn’t what I usually wear, but…Alya forced me.”

“I did not.” Alya laughed. “It was Lila’s idea we go as the seven deadly sins!”

“You know, if you needed someone to be your Gluttony that badly, you could have asked Allan.” Claude pointed to the devil beside him. “he would have been honored.”

“Shut up you Ivy-knock off.” Allan stuck his tongue out. “You’re the reason the school can’t dress as her.”

Lila laughed and sat down. “So let me see what we have her; A Bee stripper.” She looked at Chloe who puffed her chest out with pride. “A humble version of Zeus.” Joe gave a thumbs up. “Sabrina is…uh…?”

Sabrina flared her cloak out and grinned. “I’m a grim reaper.” She was decked out in red. “Well, I’m my favorite reaper I should say…a scarlet reaper.”

“Right…and Tori…” she looked at him and shook her head. “I’m not going near that…I’m scared to ask.”

Before another word was said, more cheers erupted in the dining hall. There in a bikini was Marinette herself, complete with a copper brassiere with a curved plunging neckline that fastened behind the neck and back with string as the top. A copper plate at the front while the back was covered by a red silk loincloth was the bottom. And as her accessories; knee-high boots of leather, a hair fastener that positioned her braided ponytail to cascade over her right shoulder, two bracelets, and a snake arm wrap. In her hands was a double-bladed Lightsaber that she would twirl every so often.

“OH MY GOD, MARINETTE!?” Bridgette was howling with laughter, (she was in her classic sea witch attire with her sea shells). “MARINETTE WHY!”

“Because there is no way in hell, I am letting our Snake over there win this year.” She pointed to Tori. “Speaking of, shouldn’t you be taking it easy?!”

Tori smirked and leaned back in his chair. “Hey, I’ve been a good boy. I can be out of my wheelchair; I just have to not play hero for a bit while this bad boy heals.” He pointed to his stitch. “Check it out.”

Claude shuddered. “Well, enjoy it while you can…guess who’s coming up the way.”

“Oh lord, here we go.” Aurore huffed.

Caline however, she couldn’t really sit by and watch this anymore. She stood up and made her way over to the group, clear ‘concern’ on her face.

“Now Marinette, do you really think that is appropriate for a student to wear?” 

Marinette just stared blankly at her; did she forget that tonight was a competition for the sluttiest costume? She took a breath and let her shoulders drop.

“And what exactly is wrong with what I’m wearing? If you look across from me, you will see Tori in something ‘risky’ as well.”

Tori just waved, causing the bells to jingle again. “And yes, before you ask, the nipple piercings are real. Yes it hurt the first time I got them, and yes I was inspired by the freaks of the Victorian era.”

Sabrina flicked the bell again. “Jingle boy.”

“Okay well that’s just the top, Marinette is in well…she’s basically half-naked and I don’t think any school would allow that.” Caline pressed on.

“Show her the codpiece.” Allegra pressed on.

Tori obliged and stood up, that definitely was a bad move in Caline’s eyes. She covered her mouth to prevent a sound from escaping her lips, no school would be that laid back in their costumes, even Francoise-Dupont wouldn’t allow anything like that in the halls!

“Don’t you think you’re sending the wrong message?” Caline asked. “I mean, what if someone thinks you’re…asking for anything?”

“And what would we be asking for, Ms. Bustier?” Marinette challenged.

“I mean, well, asking for unwanted attention.” Caline tried to skirt around the word.

The entire room just went silent. They didn’t hear that right? They didn’t hear that this teacher was implying that. All attention was on Caline now, the teachers of the school just hid their faces in their hands, silently wondering how this woman hadn’t gotten fired yet, a good deal of the students were just horrified. No-one said another word, and just watched as she was forced to return to her students. One look to the headmasters’ table was enough to confirm that Collins and Armel were most definitely going to put this in their reports. After that uncomfortable lunch, the rest of the day was just quiet. Well except for classes where spells were a thing, potions where everyone was figuring out the recipe, and the mortal classes where some of the Dupont kids were asked ‘How did your teacher get her teaching license’ When the evening came, it was show time.

In the auditorium, Nino was tasked to work the music as the lights were dimmed and the spotlights were on as one by one the students who competed did a cat walk and showed off. Claude walked out in a white corset top, a very short white skirt with some beading, white stockings with a lacy white garter, and white heels, blond wig styled with curled pigtails. Everyone was in hysterics, they knew he always went with the female attires, but this was just another level of it! Especially with the heels! When Tori came out, he posed and arched his back so he could show the audience the nipple piercings, making them jingle as he moved. Even more howls from the audience, one person threw their t-shirt to the stage with their cellphone number clipped to it via safety pin. Tori just picked it up and waved it like a flag before skipping off to back stage. Marinette was almost the same as she gained cheers and laughter, except unlike Tori and his floating entrance; she came in like a belly dancer, a good swish of the hips to cause the gold to jingle, she was putting those classes from Egypt to good use for tonight.

“MARINETTE MARRY ME!” someone called out.

Marinette laughed and returned backstage, she was the last to go and the calm finally returned until the crowning of the winner. The King or Queen of sluts would be voted, and the winner was…

“The King tonight is our one and only…Adrian Agreste”

Adrian came out from back stage, his blond hair with hair extensions to make his pigtails a reality, a short cheerleader costume stained in blood, and in his right hand was a chainsaw as he skipped to claim his crown. The entire auditorium had died that night, laughing and cheering. It was a good night after all.


	10. Pokemon, Spooks, Summer Planning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Togepi: Marinette  
> Fennekin: Alya  
> Nickit: Lila  
> Absol: Adrien  
> Lotad: Nino  
> Vulpix: Tori  
> Mimikyu: Joe  
> Riolu: Kagami  
> Smeargle: Nathaniel  
> Corvisquire: Marc  
> Castform: Aurore  
> Yamask: Mireile  
> Mr. Mime: Claude  
> Glameow: Felix  
> Chatot: Allegra  
> Deerling: Allan  
> Eevee/Sylveon: Sabrina  
> Combee: Chloe  
> Gyarados: Bridgette  
> Seel: Luka  
> Gothita: Juleka  
> Odish: Rose

He had to admire the group’s ambition; before him was his team holding up Pokemon cards and had a hopeful glint in their eyes. They had just come out of creation class and learned about a risky creation spell – bringing things to life; granted there was a safer version that Nathaniel and the others used during their fight with Inferno, but unlike the temporary life to still images, this was more on the permanent side of things. That and there were extra steps; they needed a pure life, death, and spirit user to perform a group spell such as this and looking at the crowd before him – they had two of the pure life users; Marinette and Joe, and two pure death users; Adrien and Adela, that just left…him. 

“I get the feeling this is some weird Ides of March thing you’re trying to do.” Tori muttered.

“You mean the Ides of October.” Chloe teased. “But look, we’ve been through this; we’ve read the spell in its entirety and we’ve consulted our teacher as well as Tikki and Plagg for this, we have everything in place we just need you to complete the circle.”

“And what exactly do I get out of this? I’m the only Spirit user in this particular school, there’s hardly any secondary spirit users here.” He reminded.

Joe grinned and held up a second card. “You get to have your ace be with you, I know you and Kindle have always been a team since the days of Gameboys.”

“And if you do this, you get to have Pokemon playdates with your boyfriend.” Claude chimed in. “Kindle and Siren playing on the deck of the Liberty while you two-”

“Finish that sentence and I will feed you to a Charizard!” Tori was blushing. “Fine, fine, we’ll do the spell. Everyone in a circle, I hate you all.”

Tori dug into his desk until he got out a marker, he moved to the center of the floor where Marinette handed him a poster board to draw the symbol on – easier to clean up, one summoning circle and the runes of life were drawn up and everyone was gathered into a circle, linking hands. This was a very risky creation spell, if the chain were to break someone – most likely himself – would end up in a critical condition and the last thing he needed was to return to the medical wing and be on some form of life support. One by one, everyone added their card into the circle; a Vulpix card, Togepi, Fennekin, Absol, Nickit, Lotad, Mimikyu, Riolu, Smeargle, Corvisquire, Castform, Yamask, Mr. Mime (Tori was seriously judging Claude right now), Glameow, Chatot, Deerling, Eevee, Combee, Seel, Gothita, and Odish. This was going to take a lot of energy and he was eternally grateful that for this he had a huge group, one wrong move and not only will the spell not work but he and some others would be knocking on death’s door. 

His grey eyes started glowing. “Animari.” He called.

The cards moved and started to bulge, Tori chanted Animari again and placed more energy into it. Little by little the monsters slowly crawled out of the card and stepped into the world of the living. The first Pokemon was here in the flesh! One by one the others started to crawl out of their cards and started to investigate before looking up at their rightful owners, the moment the last Pokemon came out – Absol, was when Adrien dropped hands and severed the link. The good news, the spell was already over. The bad news, Tori was clutching his heart and gasping for air – short of breath was a bitch.

“Fuck!” Tori glared at Adrien. “A little warning next time would be nice, Adrien!”

“Sorry!” Adrien flinched. “I…got a little excited. Are you okay? I mean you’re clutching your chest?”

“Short of breath, a minor inconvenience for the sudden loss of a death user for this spell.” He stilled himself and took a few steady breaths to get his breathing back on track. “I’m fine, it’s nothing too serious.” He smiled down at Kindle, the Vulpix who was nuzzling him and making sure he was okay.

“This is amazing!” Marinette hugged Togepi close to her. “Oh, you’re just so precious!” she rubbed her nose with it. “Mon petit Chouquette, that’s your name now; Chou,” she kissed the top of the head. 

Like everything, with the good comes the bad; due to the inability to end the spell correctly and in the midst of the excitement, someone dropped a card into the circle. Normally, it wouldn’t really be much of an issue, the only problem is…the card was that of Mewtwo. One blinding light later, and the rest of the magical energy used in the circle added and the legendary was standing right in front of them. Confused and looking around his new surroundings, the group just huddled together and held their pokemon close, or getting in front to defend them. 

“Nobody, make a sound.” Tori whispered to everyone. “The last thing we need is for him to be startled.”

Wishful thinking, the door opened and Terra walked in, they were about to let the group know of an upcoming class before their gaze locked with Mewtwo. The next thing anyone knew was that there was a scream and a blast before all hell broke loose. The commotion carried on to the teacher’s lounge where some of the teachers were finishing up break before they had to teach their respective class. All eyes were on each other before a collective headshake; Team Miraculous did something and they were no doubt dealing with the aftermath of it, there was a silent conversation on who should go out and investigate – Kasumi agreed to as the pool had to be cleaned up anyway, this would be a good punishment for whatever destruction the group had caused. Almost everyone was in agreement, Caline Bustier and Damocles were the ones who spoke up about it, asking how they could tell which student was doing what. Fortunately, that’s what the Astral professor had the answer for – Star Vision, a simple spell to use the stars and moon to see events that were happening and boy, was he laughing when he found out the reason for the destruction was because of a startled Mewtwo.

“The children brought…Pokemon to life?” Damocles asked.

“It’s a risky spell they used.” Boniface answered. “But they were quite successful! If they weren’t dealing with a frightened Mewtwo, I would actually be impressed.”

“Fortunately, Mewtwo is essentially a cat.” Kasumi stood up and stretched. “I know how to deal with scaredy-cats, it won’t take me long to calm him down.” She walked out of the room.

“And is pool cleaning really an appropriate punishment?” Bustier challenged. “You said that they’re causing destruction to the dorms, that should warrant detention.”

“Madame, what good is forcing students to sit in a classroom with nothing but homework? That doesn’t teach anything.” Armel spoke up. “Actions have consequences and responsibility must be taken, I think cleaning the pool and freshening up the water is the perfect way to teach responsibility for the real world. Madame Bourgeois has a pool of her own, yes? This could help her learn how to maintain it.”

“But she has hotel staff that can clean it!” 

“The hotel’s pool, maybe.” He nodded. “But not her personal one, she can learn to maintain her personal pool on her own.”

“Headmaster, don’t waste your breath.” Jack yawned. “It’s clear that Madame Bustier has never heard about the prospect of hard work.”

“That’s going too far, Mr. Frost!” Damocles shouted.

“Says the man who’d rather fund his Owl cosplay rather than fund the school.”

That just left both in stunned silence, just as they were going to make some form of comeback, the bell had rung singling the start of classes yet again. Caline huffed as she followed the next teacher to class, she was getting sick of their condescending nature; she was going to have a long discussion with everyone when this ‘Coven Cross’ came up in Spring. She was going to let the parents know about all the horrible mistreatment coming from the staff here and she was going to enjoy seeing the school try to save face. But for now, she had to sit through another ‘Halloween’ mess. Augh, their version of the holiday was just abysmal; letting students dress near nude in ‘honor of fertility’, ridiculous! And don’t even get her started on some of the fortune telling traditions, really, all of this was nothing but offensive. Halloween was just a night of friendly spooks and treats and the occasional horror movies, not whatever _this_ mess was! Hopefully, the winter holidays were much tamer than this.

*****

There was one thing one shouldn’t do at Collinswood; Assume that anything and everything would be normal. While the majority of the Francoise – Dupont kids had long accepted that their time here would be like no other, there were some that still chose to follow the old school policies. It was another day of their month-long Halloween  
and while most of the Dupont kids were in simple yet extravagant costumes for the night, the Collinswood kids would always go all out in every department; costumes and special effects makeup, even the entire school turned itself into a haunted house in a few short days! And while some students like Alix and Kim, for example, just dove in and joined the others for the festivities, there were students like Mylene who would latch onto Ivan for safety. It wasn’t that she hated the holiday, she loved it, but she could do without the horror aspect of it, and looking at the necromancy students…she could definitely do without the zombie look. (Unless they weren’t students and they were real zombies!) Still, aside from the horrific costumes, she did have to admit that it was fun seeing the Collinswood students treat their daily meals as a stage and perform for everyone, true some were outlandish in nature like the Akuma one, but they were still fun to watch and talk about with the actors that performed. (She also had to admit, Marc and Nathaniel were funny with their comedic piggyback ride.) It was Halloween Night, and she was on the edge of her seat as breakfast was about to begin, everyone had filled the room, it was time for the student chefs to perform.

Fog started to creep into the room, the double doors opened with a creek, from the shadows was a familiar feline hero as he limped into the light; followed by the hoard of the undead. Looking closely at Chat Noir, his suit was tattered, pieces of flesh was missing, and he had only one eye (“Oh please be an illusion spell or really good makeup!” Mylene silently pleaded). Stopping in the center he slammed his baton down and the lights changed to an eerie green and an upbeat tempo started, the monsters were gone and just lurked in the shadows as Chat began a sinister poem.

**“Darkness falls across the land**   
**The midnight hour is close at hand**   
**Creatures crawl in search of blood**   
**To terrorize your neighborhood**   
**And whosoever shall be found**   
**Without the soul for getting down**   
**Must stand and face the hounds of hell**   
**And rot inside a corpse’s shell**   
**The foulest stench is in the air**   
**The funk of 40 thousand years**   
**And grisly ghouls from every tomb**   
**Are closing in to seal your doom**   
**And though you fight to stay alive**   
**Your body starts to shiver**   
**For no mere mortal can resist**   
**The evil of the thriller.”**

Chat Noir gave a maniacal laugh as the lights came back on, and the monster from before stood behind the Dupont students, teachers, and the Collinswood students. Screams filled the room as friends tried to use their friend as a shield and lovers holding each other in fearful embraces. The music began to get a bit faster, and Chat Noir’s laughter came to an end, he twirled his baton like a show cane and took to song as the monsters began to dance for him.

 **“You hear the door slam” The double doors slammed shut with a flick of his wrist**  
 **“And realize there’s nowhere left to run**  
 **You feel the cold hand”** A student yelled as a nurse from Silent Hill grabbed their arms for a brief second.  
 **“And wonder if you’ll ever see the sun.**  
 **You close your eyes**  
 **And hope this is just imagination**  
 **Girl, but all the while**  
 **You hear a creature creeping up behind**  
 **You’re out of time!”**

The monsters returned to Adrian’s side as he led the chorus to the kitchen, once everything settled down everyone got their heart rate settled down, they began laughing and cheering for more. Mylene was giving a nervous laughter, that was definitely quite the show and she had to admit that she was amazed with how in sync everyone was, but she was still on pins and needles after seeing a skeleton behind her and Ivan. She missed a little bit of the show because she had her face hidden in Ivan’s chest, but from what she saw, it was still a good show. Kim and Alix were laughing and holding their chests, that was the scariest thing they had been a part of! They immediately congratulated and posed with Chat Noir as he came around for pictures. Actually, most of the Dupont students were just gushing about it.

“Please tell me how you did the effects!” Max begged.

Adrian just blinked. “I mean, the door slamming was a simple breeze spell, and we had the lights prepared ahead of time.”

“But what about your eye?” Alix asked. “How did you pull that off?”

“Illusion spell, it’s pretty effective.” Adrian had a proud smile on his face. He was actually glad that in the two weeks they had been here his old classmates were becoming more and more like a Collinswood kid, maybe if things work out in the end, they could join a coven and join the school? It was a hopeful thought.

“Don’t you think that was a bit excessive though? You could have scared someone!” Caline scolded

The room was silent again, Adrian took a breath of air and crossed his fingers together, silently praying for the gods to give him patience (because if they gave him strength, he would probably be arrested). “That’s kind of the point of Halloween; scares, treats, festivities,” he listed off.

“But not like that!” Caline started off. “Halloween is supposed to be about trick or treating and fun scares; things like lawn ornaments that say ‘Diana Ditch’ or ‘Will B Back’ not giving people heart attacks!” She narrowed her eyes. “And Especially not those things you wore two nights ago you called costumes!”

A teacher’s pride is both a blessing and a curse, in Caline Bustier’s case, it was a curse. She had confidence that others would be on her side only to be laughed out by not only the Collinswood students (not like she entirely cared about their opinion on the matter, they weren’t in her school), but also the teachers and some of her own students.

“What’s so funny?”

One of the Silent Hill nurses spoke up. “Oh man, did you learn nothing from our history classes? Halloween – well more specifically Hallow Mass, people not only prayed for the dead, but they also prayed for fertile marriages, and the boy choristers in the churches dressed up as virgins. There was a degree of cross dressing in the actual ceremony of All Hollow’s Eve.” She removed her mask, revealing herself to be Allegra. “And, on the topic of history, the holiday originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. And, when the Colonial times hit America, festivities included the telling of ghost stories and mischief-making of all kids, so our apologies if we decided to go down the route of tradition instead of the pussified version of Halloween you and every pearl clutching Karen are so fucking eager to shove down our throat.” She turned and stormed back into the kitchen to get the next set of plates for her classmates.

*****

The punishment was that right after lunch, Team Miraculous were in charge of cleaning the pool. Bridgette was with them helping out – she was part of the group, yes, but she wasn’t with everyone when the Pokemon spell was brought to existence. She was helping out the other vacuum the pool as some of the others were cleaning the mosaic tiles when she saw the small group of Pokemon just relaxing and watching their owners help – even Mewtwo was sitting with them and watching with interest. 

“This is so amazing; we should definitely have a playdate after dinner!” She chimed. “I’m sure everyone would love Garry!”

“That’s a great idea, Bridgette.” Nathaniel smiled. “Sandro might try and paint Garry though.”

“Oh that’s fine! He loves face painting anyway!” 

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask!” Rose piped up. “Bridgette, I’ve never seen anyone else wear your crest before; what coven are you?”

Bridgette paused and bit her lip before smiling a little. “Oh, well…I’m actually older than Tori’s coven.” She started out. “Well, it’s not really a coven, it’s actually a kingdom and well…we don’t really travel to the surface all that often so seeing the crest wouldn’t be common.”

“Okay, what’s the kingdom?” Alya pressed on.

“I’m from Atlantis, my dad’s the king!” She smiled sheepishly. “Please don’t think differently of me.”

“You’re from Atlantis?!” Lila cried. “Oh my god! You have to tell us everything! Is it really as advanced as people say it is!?”

“Yes! And yes, we did sink to the bottom of the ocean, but that’s a history topic for another day. I have pictures and…if I get my dad’s approval, I can bring some of you guys with me for the summer!” she jumped with glee. “You guys are going to love it there!”

“Alright! So then that’s the travel plans!” Marc announced. “Depending on what your father says, we’ll all travel to Atlantis to see what your kingdom is like!”

“Perfect! But first, we have a pool to clean and Garry to play with!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pokemon Names:   
> Marluxia - Mimikyu  
> Kindle - Vulpix  
> Chouquette - Togepi  
> Sandro - Smeargle  
> Garry - Gyarados
> 
> Because I love my readers; You get to pick the names of the other Pokemon buddies, and whichever I like more will be featured in the next chapter.


	11. Halloween Night

It was a rare day that Marinette went home to spend the night, but she had her reasons for doing so; one was because she missed her parents and wanted to spend time with them, two so she could get up early enough to make pumpkin flavored treats for her friends – She got up around the same time as her father to get everything made so that meant extra time in being around them, and finally; so she could surprise everyone with the costumes she’s made for their little Pokemon pals (it took a lot of convincing to let everyone part with their partners, especially Gary…which turned out to be a Gyarados. That and Marluxia the Mimikyu, Joe and Bridgette were very protective about the two.) but right now, everything was perfect; she was proud of the outcome of everyone’s costumes and was ready to show them off – especially for trick or treating. 

“I’m so glad that Collinswood is treating you well.” Tom smiled.

“Yeah, it’s been a crazy start, but I think after Halloween, Dia de Muertos, and All Souls Day, everything should be calming down; granted we have some coven members who still celebrate some things and invite us to join, but those are tame compared to Halloween Month – of course, we have taken time to celebrate The Festival of Lights” for the Indian students, Dia de la Raza for the Spanish students.” She stopped and blushed. “And I’m going off on a tangent again.

Tom just chuckled, “Collinswood is something else.” He agreed. “Now then, what about the new friends you and everyone had made over there? What about your friends? Claude and them? You’ve talked so much about them, when are we going to meet them outside of school?”

“Sometime after trick or treating? That is if we can get Chloe to agree, she and Sabrina have been hyping up about this big project she wants to show everyone.” 

“A project? Did she allude to what it may be?”

Marinette shook her head. She closed the boxes of pastries and placed them into her satchel along with the costumes before hugging her dad, promising him that they’ll definitely visit sometime during lunch – she had a lot of stories to share with them after all. Wishing him a good day she hurried out with her broom, she had a long flight ahead of her.

That was another thing, apparently earlier when they had arrived they had to take a course in flying before a broom was distributed or bought; Tori, along with some others, had to take the class to renew their license to fly about – it was essentially the magic equivalent of Driver’s Education. Not like that was a bad thing if it meant flying in the beautiful autumn sunrise from home and back to Collinswood. The cool breeze gracing her as she glided through the air, in a weird sense flying was like second nature to her (probably after being Ladybug for so long), it was comforting at least. It got her to school without worrying about being late, and it gave her a quiet space to relax and not fret about tests or the inevitable akuma attack, up here in the skies she was able to finally breath. Up here in the skies, she was free. Of course, every bird had to land eventually to eat and rest, and in her case; this little robin had to land for school.

Upon landing, she had placed her broom alongside the others that were being taken by the professionals to be tended to; she couldn’t help but shake her head at the sight of the other student’s mode of transportation; Chloe’s was a bit…out there with it being a chaise lounge - it also didn’t help that Sabrina was the one steering it like a gondola. Still, odd flying method or not, as long as it got you places that’s all anyone cared about. (Of course, she had her suspicions that their teacher in water-based magic had a flying scooter.) She adjusted the red cape she was wearing for her Little Red Riding Hood ensemble; it was time to deliver the goodies to everyone and avoid the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ (read as Caline Bustier). With it being Halloween night, everyone was going all out in their costumes; it was bigger and louder than the entirety of the month! She smiled as she entered the dining hall for breakfast, she greeted to everyone as she made her way to her normal table where the rest of the group was; some of the pokemon were on the table eating their breakfast, others were just lounging on the floor, and Mewtwo was just sitting like a tensed cat nibbling on some cake from the kitchen. She giggled and sat down.

“Good morning, everyone! I brought gifts!” she smiled as she set the basket on the table.

“Why Marinette! What a big heart you have.” Luka teased.

“All to give everyone my love with, Phantom.” She poked at his mask. “I want to thank everyone for letting me borrow their pokemon, and I’d like to thank Mewtwo for giving me the time of day.”

The pokemon in question looked over at her with a huff, “You…kept your word about there being a gift if I had helped you out.”

“And now you get to see the final product!” She took out a vest and top hat.

It took a lot of growling and huffing before Mewtwo finally accepted the attire; he even had a cane to go with; he was a dapper pokemon. The material was soft and warm, and he actually purred in content. Soon after, everyone was dressed up; Siren had a mermaid look going on, Kindle was in a cloak with flames and a fur hood (he was jumping around in glee), and Marluxia was dressed as Bendy, everyone was looking adorable – even the Absol with his Chien Noir attire – a little dog version of the Feline hero. Everyone was cooing over how adorable everyone looked and even got their phones out to take pictures, everything was looking good until the dawn of realization hit; Marluxia didn’t like bright lights.

“Oh shoot!” Lila quickly turned her flash off. “Sorry baby, okay Joe Alya and I are ready for the little Bendy.”

“Okay Marluxia, smile for the camera.” Joe smiled as he set his Pokemon down on the table. 

Marluxia did the exact opposite, instead of sitting still he scurried over to one of the phones and looked at it, using his shadowy appendages he grabbed one and hugged it crushing Lila’s phone in one go, Alya’s was next soon after as he threw it repeatedly on the table over and over again. Joe just looked in horror as he quickly tried to get him to stop, the girls – though taken aback, they couldn’t help but laugh as he tried (and failed) to save their phones.

“It’s okay!” Alya assured. “I was meaning to upgrade anyway, and nothing was lost; all pictures and videos of the last akuma fight were safely uploaded to the blog.”

“I am so sorry!” Joe cried. “I didn’t think he’d destroy them!”

“It might be because he saw the phones emitting flashing light.” Felix spoke up. “He probably thought that Alya and Lila were going to shine a bright light on him and he acted in defense.”

“Typical of humans.” Mewtwo muttered.

“I’ll just tell my mom that I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket during sparring and that it got destroyed after slamming into a wall.” Lila shrugged; she froze when she saw the narrowed eye look from Tori. “Please just let this lie slide, she’s not going to believe that we brought Pokemon to life and one destroyed my phone!”

Tori thought for a bit and nodded slowly. “We’ll clear things up at Coven Cross, for now; just say that your phone got wrecked in school.”

“Speaking of school, I’m amazed that there’s no breakfast show today.” Rose spoke up. “You usually have them, don’t you?”

“It’s actually entirely optional.” Claude replied. “Some people do it because school is boring and we need some entertainment in our lives to keep us from yeeting our homework.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” Rose blushed shyly. “What is everyone doing for Halloween?”

“I usually take Chris out for trick or treating, and Alya does the same with the twins.” Nino smiled. “Other than that, I’m not doing anything.”

Allan was making a stack of sugar cubes. “The school does variety shows, however…we’re not doing that this year because no-one wants to deal with _her_ , so we’re not doing anything.”

“Good thing you’re friends with us!” Chloe smirked. “You get the honors of trick or treating with the best friend group ever!”

“At lunch however, you’re all coming over to my place; my dad wants to meet the Collinswood kids we’ve befriended!” Marinette chimed. “After lunch and afternoon classes is candy time!”

The rest of the morning went as normal, history was on the burials of mummies in Ancient Egypt and at the start things were fine; there was no disruption from a certain teacher from Francoise-Dupont who seemed to enjoy making life hard for everyone (thankfully, the Collinswood schoolboard banished her to the filing room with Tarra – there should be no way she can get into too much trouble.), of course there were cases from the students from the school – mostly from Kim, clearly he wasn’t the definition of brain over brawn, when it came the funeral part he kept poking at the Sennen Coven, a lot of the other families were face palming at the questions.

“Okay, so if Tori were to die, his family would embalm him and mummify him?” Kim asked.

“No Kim.” Agron sighed. “The practice of mummification stopped during after Ptolemy era; though burials have been different now, the only thing that remains among to the family heads would be the charms buried alongside; the book of the dead, protection charms, and the like.” 

Kim thought for a little, “What about the fancy processions? Do they still get that?”

“Maybe if we were back in the days of the Pharaohs.” Bridgette sighed. “No, with the way things are today he would be given a private ceremony with only the coven showing up; the burial site would be on holy grounds – cemeteries, the catacombs if he were to die in his battle against Hawkmoth.”

“Jesus Kim, it sounds like you want him to die.” Another student groaned. “Tori’s been stabbed in one of the akuma battles!”

“No, I don’t want him to die!” Kim defended. “I’m just asking if he were to die, would he have the same practice from the past? I mean, minus the whole dissection thing.” 

That got some of the Sennen members grinning, specifically two familiar girls from Kim’s class as well as a familiar sunshine boy. It was Alya who spoke up first in the midst of chaos; she told Kim that Tori confirmed that the family still practiced the canopic jar ceremony so if their silver-eyed mage were to have died his organs would be removed and carefully be placed in the jars to be preserved as he traveled to the Afterlife. Kim gagged and covered his mouth; his reaction was all the rest of the Sennen family needed to keep going on with Alya’s comment. Joe even joined in and got into graphic detail of what would happen to Tori’s brain – the brain was useless as everything was stored in the heart; his memories, his wisdom, everything. 

“Oh, and don’t forget the wine.” Lila grinned. “They have to rinse the inside of the body with wine and spices.”

“Since Tori is an important figure of the magic community, would they rinse his body with robust and full-bodied wine?” Adrien asked.

“I mean he does have a sweet tooth, so a full-bodied pinot grigio would be perfect to use.” Joe grinned.

“But if they use a sweet one, there comes the risk of bugs getting into the body.” Bridgette pointed out. “He would need a dry Moscato wine.”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, Kim just rushed out of the classroom. Agron just watched and shrugged as she finished another cup of tea before returning to teach the class as planned.

 *****  
  
“A Sharknado?” Sabine asked. “That’s a clever Halloween short you performed.” 

Finally with lunch arriving, everyone was able to relax at the bakery and with the relaxing in their costumes came the stories from school; Allan had finished telling her about the Sharknado that had happened at the early part of their Halloween seasons, it was nice to see that someone had a sense of humor – unlike Joe and Adrien who complained about the ‘headache’ that came from it.

“It really was.” Tori smiled. “Adrien went as a zombified Chat Noir and performed Thriller a few days ago, and now we’re just relaxing and finishing classes before we go out trick or treating.”

“Before you do.” Sabine smiled. “We are making some tarts for trick or treaters as well if you want some.” 

“That would be great to go with a few rounds of soul caliber!” Tori smiled.

“Losers have to buy lunch for a week.” Kagami chimed. “Which would mean that Claude and Allan are going to take the first two days.”

“What makes you think we’re going to lose?” Claude challenged.

Kagami smirked. “I never lose, Claude.”

“Except to Adrian.” Marinette pointed out. “You lost to him in fencing.”

“Your call on the match didn’t count, Mari.”

Felix cleared his throat. “If you are done arguing like children, why don’t you stop fighting with words and start fighting with avatars. Besides.” He glared at Tori. “I have a bone to pick with Mr. Horror Game Enthusiast and Life Ruiner here!”

Tori just flipped him off. “Not my fault that Alice: Madness Returns fucked you over _that_ badly.” He smirked.

“I am throwing you and Sophitia out of the ring, Shai!”

“Bring it, Agreste!”

“I call Zasalmel!” Joe chimed. “Say goodbye to your armor, Tori!”

 *****  
  
Chloe was just skipping with Joe as she led the way, she had promised a Halloween surprise of her own. Granted the actual building still had a way to go, but she was still excited to show her teammates the progress she had made. She won’t lie, she was hoping for it to be done by Halloween night but of course, those stupid workers couldn’t get the mannequins on time due to ‘back order’ (yeah whatever, they just didn’t want to work on a holiday). 

“Okay, here we are!” Chloe opened the door for them. “Go on in and see your new work space!”

Jaws hit the floor as everyone walked around the empty boutique; a reverse ladybug themed carpet, a mural behind the counter with the heroes posing, empty racks for clothes, Marinette was just lost in a cute daze. It was like her dream come true! A quick run up the spiral stairs confirmed it even more; a high-end sewing machine on a desk, boxes of fabric and patterns, she needed to sit down.

“Whoa, Chlo, you didn’t have to do this.” Joe breathed out, he went up the stairs after Marinette and looked around some more. “Hey Chloe! What’s this comic book stuff with the fashion designs!”

Chloe had a huge grin on her face as she called upstairs. “That’s for Marc and Nathaniel! I thought they should have a space to work on their Ladybug comics!”

Tori looked himself over from the dressing room; he saw that Chloe added a tan line on his waist and shook his head. He tried the whole tanning thing but the color never stayed, then again, that’s what happens when you live up north the majority of your life; no sun for tans. 

“You did good, Chloe.” Tori smiled. “You did good.”

Sabrina smiled and hugged him. “It’s thanks to you, if you hadn’t offered your help this whole thing would never had happened!” she dragged him back to the group. “Also! This is just more than a boutique for us – well, specifically Marinette, but it’s for us to meet up for hero stuff!”

“I still think you would have done this without his help.” Adrian smiled.

Chloe waved her hand. “Yeah, yeah…anyway, welcome to the new Team Miraculous Headquarters! Heroes, Fashion, and café business!”

Kagami smiled. “I trust there’s a way for the heroes to get back up?”

“Oh, there is.” Tori assured. “Mr. Fu knows that I intend to return the jewels to their rightful family owners; I managed to get the mouse and bee from him during Fashion Diva or whatever Chloe’s mom name was, the fox is the next one on the list.”

“You can be pretty vicious, you know that right?” Lila asked. “Why didn’t you keep the fox after Rena Rouge debuted?”

“Because the idiot intends to train Marinette as the ‘next guardian’, she’s my inside girl and we’re just buying our time until we can get the rest in one area.”

“Right…uh…Moving on, let’s do candy sorting!” she held up her bag. “I call dibs on Jolly Ranchers!”

“Any and all sour candy belong to me. I will fight anyone for it.” Kagami warned.

“Then prepare to lose, Tsurugi, all those sour-sweet goodies are mine!” Joe smirked as he grabbed his bag.

Kagami drew her sword. “I’m warning you, Dupont, surrender the sour candies to me now and no-one will get hurt.”

Joe grabbed his ornate charm and transformed his wand into a scythe. “Bring it on, Tsurugi!” he cried as he swung it at the fencer.

That was how the team found themselves in a candy war. The small group of Pokemon teamed up and quickly picked up anything they deemed good for their bucket (which, looking back was mostly saltwater taffy and jawbreakers), some people even teamed up and did dramatic falls when they got hit by a candy they didn’t care for (Adrian was an example when he ‘fell to the all-powerful, lemon drops’ as he ‘died’ in Joe’s arms.) All hell definitely broke lose when the rest of the group (the Quantic kids – Bridgette, Allan, Claude, Allegra, and Felix) came walking in to the sight before them, in the end everyone was laughing and got to sort out their candy without any problems before they had to turn in for the night. Chris and the twins were back home, sleeping off the sugar coma, and the students were huddled in the dorms watching horror movies. The 80’s thrillers like Halloween and Friday 13th were laughable yet enjoyable, but when it got to films like The Grudge or Scream, that’s when everyone had their wands out as a weapon of some kind. Allegra had salted the area by the bed, window, closet, and the doorway. Even with the protection, they were still paranoid to go to sleep, just as they were dozing off their dorm master came in and caused everyone to scream and nearly wet themselves.

“Sheesh, jumpy much?” they asked. 

“Sorry Terra.” Tori sighed. “Uh was there something you needed?”

They nodded. “Yeah, just reminding you that you kids have Lunar class to get to.” They turned to the movie to see The Ring playing. “And also, to tell you to hold off on the horror movies, your screams can wake the dead.”


	12. Start of Winter

Ever since Halloween had ended, the mood throughout the school had shifted. At first, no-one batted an eye when the Collinswood students were dressed in dark colors and wore their coven emblems, every had just assumed that now all the festivities were done that there was some uniform code happening. The only other show they’ve had on the first few days of November was the three coven heads sending off the spirits with a bang; they were dressed as the Sanderson Sisters; Joe was leading the way as Winnifred and Tori and Adela were his backup duos as they performed I put a Spell on You, they got a lot of their peers dancing and kissed the autumn goodbye for the arrival of winter. Just like Halloween, everything had changed; there wasn’t any dining hall shenanigans, food was just served in silence (heck, even the ‘miraculous table’ hadn’t been up to their normal video game parties). Not only had the students changed but so had the teachers; history lessons were darker, music classes were somber, sparring was very few and in between, even the karaoke room that Mr. Bardon had installed hadn’t been reserved in nearly three weeks! Of course, that was only during the school hours, outside the school halls the students were back as their cheerful selves as they’d play in the leaves and then eventually the snow or they’d go into town to find something to do. Yet, the moment they’d come back, the somber mood was back.

Caline watched as the days went on, she her normal bright attire and watched as more of Francoise-Dupont would mix in with the rest of Collinswood in darker colors. She was glad that they were adapting wonderfully, and she was even more glad when the other teachers stopped lecturing her about how she handled her class – it was unwanted advice anyway. Still, seeing the school devoid of life during school hours was depressing and she tried asking the teachers about what was happening, but the only reply she got was “It’s the winter seasons, the veil between living and dead will start to thin.” It was pretty ominous, but she knew there wasn’t a point in arguing. The last few trips to the office were met with nasty results. Of course, she would be lying if she said she wasn’t glad that the Collinswood students had finally mellowed out, she wasn’t certain if she could stand another day of the crazy events that was October. And the other thing she was glad about is that the Collinswood students were finally showing her some respect; no more mocking her in class, no more confrontations, perhaps winter time was a blessing after all.

Even today, breakfast had started off simple; the three future heads of the Fleur Family, the Sennen Coven, and the House of Dragon walked in with lit candles. Their heads were bowed as they walked pass everyone and placed the candles in the holders by an altar of some kind. Day by day, people of the school would leave either a picture or an offering of some kind. It felt more like a funeral than breakfast. It actually pained Caline to see Tori, Adela, and Joe standing there with a sorrowful expression on their face, deciding to risk it, she stood up and made her way to them.

“Tori, is everything okay with you and your friends?” She asked.

Tori just nodded and looked up at her. “Everything is fine.” He replied softly. “Thank you for asking.”

“I can tell everything is not fine, you usually do an eye roll and explain things in a condescending manner.”

“We only do so because you fail to listen.” Adela said. “Winter for us is a solemn moment, we would understand if you want to take your students back to your old school for the season.”

Caline shook her head. “No, I actually want to know why this season is somber?”

Joe nodded. “Because during the winter, mostly everything is dead. You can’t grow or harvest crops, animals have to turn to hibernation because their main source of food isn’t available during this time, trees are mostly bare.” He listed off. “It’s mostly a funeral for everyone during this time.”

“I know you plan to ask about the dark colors and Joe already explained the funeral aspect.” Tori spoke up. “But also, the color black for my coven and for the school at this point; Black is the color of death and the afterlife.” He had a small smile on his face. “But it also is the color of the night, endurance and stability, as well as fertility and regeneration of the land. So, this color, while associated with death is also a color for rebirth, you’ll definitely see it in the spring.”

Caline smiled a bit. “Should I change attire then?”

Joe shrugged. “If you want to.” He turned and walked off.

“Thanks for explaining then, um have a…good winter?” She tried.

The three just nodded and went back to their table. There was a glimmer of hope for her, she was genuinely curious about the season in their school, so perhaps this season is truly a blessing for them as well. Of course, no-one was holding their breaths, they’re still miffed at her for the things from both their old school and the stunts she’s been pulling in here. No-one at the Miraculous table said anything and just ate in silence, if there was conversation, it was mostly about schoolwork and what was planned for Christmas next month. Collinswood had December booked; the first week, a group would be going down to the Hidden Kingdom with the Sennen Coven and celebrate with the spirits there, another group would be going to Greece with the Fleur Family to be with the gods, and the final group would be going with the House of Dragon to Romania to visit the castle and the ‘Witches Graveyard’ for a somber celebration. This would go on for three weeks. The holiday week itself, the students were free to return home and be with family to celebrate how they’d want to. As the future heads, the trio were in charge of making sure the groups were evened out; some witches that chose not to attend Collinswood would be arriving for the ‘winter vacations’ and to celebrate as well. The look on the Dupont students’ faces was an enjoyable sight when they saw a few more of their classmates walking in the dining hall and going up to the alter to leave something. One of their other classmates was Mireille, Aurore immediately went up to her and hugged her close, they quietly caught up after she left a picture on the alter. The next was Luka, he was greeted the same by Juleka and Tori, like Mireille, he left something (a travel sized bottle of wine) on the alter and went to join the group at the Miraculous table.

“How are things here?” Luka asked quietly.

“Could be better.” Tori shrugged. “Planning last minute changes for the festivities is a bitch.”

Lila looked up. “That reminds me, you said you and the others were planning out a winter vacation for the school?”

“It’s not a vacation, or a school trip…” Joe started off. “See, the schools have this lotto system where certain schools would go to certain places; for example, let’s say the system picked the Midwest branch of Collinswood, Madrid’s branch, and Tokyo to go to Egypt for the first part of winter. The other branches would be sent to either Greece or Romania.”

“Of course, not every school can go – which, in some cases, can be a blessing since…Romania is where things get really heavy.” Adela looked down. “The House of Dracul, my side is always held at the Castle…the Belmont side go to the Belmont Estate, it’s less grim than the Castle, but there you have it.”

“Is this school one of the ones going to either of the three?” Alya smacked her head. “What am I doing, of course you’re going – you were planning things out after all.”

“Fun fact; because these three are the heirs of their respective coven, they’re obligated to show up with their school.” Claude grinned. “You guys get to see more of your family!”

“Wow, I didn’t know I had extended family!” Kim chimed with a smile. “I wonder what they’re like?”

“Kim…you do know that when they say ‘family’, they’re talking about other coven members.” Alix shook her head.

Nope, he wasn’t listening in the slightest. Kim was just gushing about meeting the extended family and Alix was just holding her head in her hands. There was some life from this table, and it was actually a refreshing sight to say the least; when it came to the somber season that is. Surprisingly enough, throughout the fall seasons the three heirs were somewhat able to get everyone signed into their respectful coven, the only thing left is to do the official welcoming ceremony at the holy grounds on their winter travels. The festivals in those areas would be a perfect cover to do the welcoming without any interference from their former teachers.

“Oh yeah!” Kim looked over to Tori. “So, do we get awesome sashes like you? What about wizard robes, do we get them like in Harry Potter?”

“I am so close to slapping you.” Adela groaned. “No, robes are usually reserved for formal events; weddings, graduation, funerals, etc.” she listed.

Joe held his forehead. “Second; it depends on your coven; the sashes belong to the Sennen coven and act as a belt if you were wearing a traditional shenti, the Fleur family has flowers that are usually preserved in gold, and finally the Dracul Family – both Belmont and Tepes – have special gemstones that can be worn as jewelry, usually in pewter since some family members can’t wear gold.” He pointed to Tori.

“Why can’t he wear gold?” Kim asked. “Is he allergic?”

“Please tell me you’re joking!” Chloe yelled. “Kim, until it’s solid evidence that Tori is related to Master Mahad, he can’t wear gold! Gold is reserved for those of nobility – Pharaohs, the Royal court, or actual nobles.” She explained. “And Tori doesn’t fit into either of those categories until they find something solid to link his family to the magician of old.”

“But he’s the head of the Sennen, isn’t that enough?”

Adela sighed. “I’m head of the ‘Tepes’ branch of the Dracul family and I’m not related to Lord Tepes.” She pointed out. “Sometimes the title is just a mantle with no familial ties…of course, I find that I’m more related to his late wife’s family…technically related as an in-law, but not by blood.”

Kim just stared at everyone. “So…Is Joe a demigod because of Demeter?”

“Babe, hold my miraculous.” Tori handed the bangle to Luka. “I have to beat some sense into Kim.”

“Kick his ass, babe!” Luka cheered. “I got your miraculous.”

*****

If there was one thing Caline prided in herself, it was her ability to know when something was wrong. It started with her students’ behavior throughout this whole ordeal; they would sneak off to the craft side of magic and inquire about learning certain spells, at first, she didn’t mind, they were just curious and it was neat to see her students trying out some of the spells. But then, when they had started to drift more and more towards the Collinswood kids, she wasn’t entirely certain what the whole idea was but they found more enjoyment from the teachers of this school rather than their own from Francoise-Dupont – even more so when they dared speak out against her and shutting her down along with the teachers. They were becoming irrational to everything she’s done in the classrooms; sure, she was still learning about some aspects of the magic community and their history, but the eyerolls were still there. Honestly, Caline wasn’t certain why her class was doing this, but she was going to find out, and the first thing to do on her list was talk to the three future heads of their coven; Tori, Adela, and Joey, if anyone knew anything it would be those three. 

Speaking of those three, she had noticed how rare it was to see them in halls lately. Throughout November she would find those three missing from the “Miraculous Table” and the only time the trio would show up is when they had files with them. Missing a lot of school to do…whatever it was, she couldn’t help but to be curious. Confronting them had to take a lot of planning and a lot of timing, and thankfully her prayers came true when she saw them in one of the dorm rooms. She smiled and knocked on the door and without waiting for an invite to come in she walked up to the three coven heads.

“Why yes Ms. Bustier, you may come in.” Adela said dryly. “How thoughtful of you to wait for an invite.”

Caline ignored her. “I have some questions for you, if that’s okay?” she didn’t wait for an answer. “Can you three tell me why you seem to vanish from school lately?”

Tori nodded. “Coven related business, we’re trying to sort out the groups for the upcoming winter holidays in Greece, Romania, and Egypt. And…since we agree that honesty is the best policy, if this wasn’t last minute and if I had my way, I would have made sure that you, Karen Bustier, never step foot on any of the three sacred grounds we’re visiting.” His voice laced with acid.

Caline just looked like he had insulted her dead relative. “You’re being unreasonable, Tori. I’ve been patient with you since you were a student of mine in Francoise-Dupont, but this has gone on too long. I’m going to talk to your aunt about this.”

“Kindly shut up.” Adela spoke up. “Listen, you’ve been disrespectful to our school since you’ve step foot into our halls. If anything, _we’re_ the ones who have been trying to be patient with you and Damocles. Granted, he’s been tamed and hasn’t opened his damn mouth – probably because he’s busy staring at owl pictures and focusing on his toys than doing his job – but you on the other hand; the fact you wanted to curve our entertainment and history as not to “offend” anyone and your little stunt during out autumn festivities we’d rather just ban you from going on this winter trip with us.”

Joe closed his binder and stood up. “We’re done with you, Ms. Bustier, and believe me when I say come spring no-one is going to miss you; we’ve filed the reports with the schoolboard, you’ll have your chance to speak at Coven Cross as that’s the last inch of kindness we’re showing you. Have a good winter, Ms. Bustier, because we’re going to be celebrating the day you’ll be out of our halls for good.” 

They left Caline standing there looking like a fish out of water and honestly, they could care less what she did afterwards. They were done with her. As of tonight, they had more pressing matters to attend to, tonight was the meeting at the Miraculous Boutique – their new front for any superhero related business. Since its completion the group had taken up to doing sewing parties in the building; their first project was the feather hat that Marinette had made and all through the night they were singing and sewing. They got their first box filled and got some of their hats on display, which if one were to ask Marinette, was a great success. She picked the project and walked everyone through the process and after the success of the hat came the sundresses – Queen Bee themed of course, then there was the Carapace backpack, and tonight, they were going to make an evening dress based off of the Hooded Assassin. 

**Ding.**

Thank god for the overhead bell, otherwise everyone would be stabbing themselves with a pin out of surprise. Nino, Lila, and Alya looked around at the sight, they knew everyone would be busy with something – that tended to be the formula, when the group got together; first it was playing videogames, then it was carving pumpkins. It seemed like they’re happy when they have something in their hands to keep their attention on. Shrugging Nino went up and sat Cara – his Lotad in the window and next to Kindle and Marluxia who were taking a small nap throughout the whole scene.

“Glad you three finally decided to show up.” Felix spoke up. “Pardon about the mess, we decided to kill some time while we were waiting for you.” He started to put the sundresses on a rack.

“I know you wanted the girls to model some of the dresses.” Nino said, watching as the girls went over to Juleka and Rose. “But what is it you guys want me to do?”

“Depends, do you know how to sew?” Chloe asked as she grabbed a Queen Bee inspired sundress. “If not, you can help in dressing the mannequins; we’re glad you and the fox are here, we were going to discuss some Miraculous business.”

“Are you sure it’s wise to have some civilians know about the superhero business?” Lila asked. “I mean, doesn’t that compromise everything?”

Tori looked over and took the pin cushion from his mouth. “We’ve been through this, and honestly I feel like a broken record; The Order of the Miraculous are nothing but thieves, they don’t call the shot.” He held his wrist up. “They desecrated a tomb just to get this, and now that it’s back where it belongs, I call the shot and I say ‘fuck the order, we’re not listening to them.”

Alya flinched as she grabbed the Rena Rouge evening gown. “What about the fox miraculous…what family does it belong to?” 

“Technically the House of Loki.” Joe said. “It’s actually shared between the House of Loki and the Kitsune Family, they would trade it off between each other at the family reunions.”

“And what is it we’re planning?” Claude asked as he finished stitching the roses on a different dress. “I mean we know we have civilian informants to patrol the streets.”

“Well…” Marinette brought out the three boxes she’s had with her for a while. “I talked to the current guardian about expanding the team in hopes to get the other miraculous, but he gave me theses; man-made miraculous, created by alchemy and corresponds with Mind, Spirit, and Body.”

“Using unknown powers, how safe.” Felix scoffed. “Alright, anyone wish to be a guinea pig for these and be our secondary hero teams?”

“Me!” Claude raised his hand. “Oh please let me be one of the three!”

“Why am I not surprised” Felix shook his head. 

“Alright.” Marinette handed the Miraculous of the mind to him. “Claude, I bestow to you the Miraculous of the Mind, with this you will help us in our battle against Hawkmoth.”


	13. Sennen Festival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good Morning, my cat sucks.

The first week of the school’s winter tradition was to be held in Egypt where the Sennen coven was born, the group that was going there were hyped. Bags were packed for the week and everyone was meeting in the great hall where Tori was. He was in charge of this small vacation and he given everyone the pamphlets ahead of time, fortunately, he was also giving some reminders as he had a sinking feeling not everyone bothered to read the informational packet. And sadly, he was right; mixing in Caline’s constant questions such as where were they going to sleep, what’s the name of the hotel, what is the itinerary – all of those damn questions were already answered if you bothered to read, fucking idiot.

The flight down there went without a fuss, then again, it was likely due to the fact that Tori had made sure to pick the earliest flight out there so that his former teacher was passed out and would likely keep her damn mouth shut. It worked almost too well and she would have been sleeping on the return flight – if a stewardess hadn’t woken her up to join the rest of the class; ah well, there’s always next time to leave her behind to deal with the wolves that were the School Board. With a huff, Tori informed everyone to not fret about getting their bags as someone from the Kingdom would be getting them for the group; with that said, he took everyone to where their ride was so they could hurry along their way.

The kingdom wasn’t anything like anyone was expecting. For one thing; it was a mix of every time period crammed into one setting, some buildings had a Victorian tinge, others looked like the buildings they had today. Nino had to do a double take in the information packet to make sure he had his facts right; sure enough, due to the charm that was placed on the kingdom this was the only place to have grown with the times. True this place wasn’t inhabited as much and only the descendants of the kingdom only showed up for special occasions (such as their winter holiday). As of now, the kingdom was decorated with lanterns and had various stalls set up all leading to the palace gates. Everyone followed Tori to the center of the town, he stood beside the fountain and clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. He told everyone that they were free to visit the families that were here and to learn from them, and if they had any questions, they were free to come find him or the other two heads at the palace courtyard. The Collinswood students were the first to break away from the group and went to explore the town, leaving the Francoise-Dupont kids alone in a confused daze. The city was mostly empty, how were they going to learn from the families here if there wasn’t anyone here to begin with? The students looked at each other in silent confusion, their confusion grew when they saw Nino walk off with Juleka, Rose, and Luka.

“Uh Nino? Where are you going?” Alya asked.

Nino turned to look at her. “I’m going to explore the kingdom?” he said in an obvious tone.

Once that had been said, the group and split up into small groups, some of them going to check out the stalls; party favors, sweet smelling food, and beautiful clothing on the racks – some of the girls were gushing over them and trying on different dresses before buying them, while others went to attempt to talk to some of the families and try to ask questions; it was a bit weird seeing spirits manifest or picking up a stick of chalk and writing down their replies. 

Upon moving away from the main square, he came across one of the houses and went to visit the family, thanks to the setting sun and the shadows that came with it, he was able to see the residents of the place. He cleared his throat and removed his cap in respect before introducing himself to the family, they were a noble family that worked the spice trade, their descendants now took over but their spice business was still booming and they couldn’t be prouder of them. Nino was quick to write this down like a history report, he shared some things about him too; being a DJ at night, working on short films, working on being a Collinswood student (that got some praise, “Good group that school is, they know how to be respectful people” the husband approved. “Keep up your studies, understand?”) and of course just to add a little more praise, he added in how he was Carapace.

The wife looked over with eyes wide. “You’re one of Paris’ heroes?” she asked.

“You know about us?” Nino was equally surprised.

“Honey, everything modern have either been brought as offerings by your future classmates or by our family members.” She chuckled. 

He had a light blush. “Oh, right…hadn’t really thought of that.”

“Which coven were you going to enter?” the husband had asked. 

“Well, Tori said that he wouldn’t be able to get me in, but…my friend Joe, he’s the heir to the Fleur Family, he’s going to get me and some others into his family. I’m actually excited and nervous since…I don’t know what to expect.”

“If you were to have joined the Sennen Coven, you would have had an audience with the gods.” He pointed out. “Fleur’s is more of a festival, and the House of Dracul is like going to a funeral.”

The wife gently smacked her husband upside the head. “Must you be a downer?” she turned back to Nino. “The celebration at the palace is going to start soon; you should meet with your classmates.”

Nino nodded and hurried to the courtyard after thanking the family for their time. The party had started a bit like what you would expect with lights, music, games, and good food. Party guests both living and dead were having a great time. Most of the younger guests were found by the games in the courtyard; shooting games with a bow and arrow (it was funny seeing some of the ghosts boast about how they were the best archer of their time, only to fail at hitting a target on the game, even Kim was laughing and joking with the some of the spirits!) The other half of the guests being adults were off to the side dancing to slow music, enjoying the food and fine wine, or just talking with each other, the culture clash was something to beheld as you had men from the Victorian times still in utter surprise that the women from Spartan times wore a band of wool over their breasts as well as loincloths to act as their undergarments! All in all, it seemed like everything was going well and that everyone was having a good time.

During the slow song portion of the night, couples would be in each other’s arms and danced the night away. Tori closed his eyes as Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love played by one of the singers, Nino was with them playing on some of the more traditional instruments and Felix was on the violin beside him. The evening was fun and romantic for everyone at the Palace’s festival. When the song ended Tori kissed Luka and smiled at him, whispering that he and some others had a special show for tonight’s performance to which his boyfriend replied that he looked forward to it. It was as Tori promised, the music had paused and the guards moved everyone to the side as the performance was about to begin; stepping into view were the ladies of Collinswood; Allegra, Chloe, Sabrina, Kagami, Aurore, and Marinette, all in their belly dancing ensemble. Coming behind them were the boys; Adrian, Tori, and Joe. The crowd cheered as the music started playing an upbeat tempo, in unison they were entrancing the audience; the confidence from each dancer, the sway of their bodies, the beautiful blend of colors from their costumes mixing into a hypnotic rainbow as the thin sashes reflected the light from the lanterns. Granted, there were some mixed reactions from the audiences, but most everyone chalked it up as a culture shock, of course when some people saw the pearl clutching crowd of the modern era (mostly from a single teacher) it got confused reactions. Weren’t people of this era supposed to be open minded? When the performance ended, people were throwing roses to the dancers and cheering for more, to which some of the boys gave an encore while the girls went to change and relax with a drink. After the second round of dancing, Tori returned to his boyfriend’s side and went to enjoy the quiet evening by the drinks, enjoying another round of wine and going after some of the desserts while laughing and talking. Everything seemed to go well for them until Caline had walked up to them.

“Just when I thought this evening was a time of celebration, someone has to be a fucking bitch.” Tori sighed.

Luka shook her head, “She’s never going to learn, is she?”

“What is it this time?” Tori asked her. “Please make it good, I’m not entirely drunk enough to put up with you tonight.”

Caline huffed “You don’t have to be rude, Tori.” She scolded. “What were you thinking about having your peers dance like that for everyone?”

“Not my call, they asked me to submit a request to the current Pharaoh to perform and while Lord Seth is a hard ass, I wasn’t expecting him to agree.” He shrugged. “Go ahead and complain to the ruler, see how well that works.”

“Even during a festival you’re hostile, Tori, I’m trying to get a better understanding of your culture.”

“Is this before or after the Victorians came to me about your slut-shaming remark? I lost count how many asked if you were a teacher.” He stood up. “Listen, I’m too tired; you just do what you do and me? I’m getting another round.”

“We are going to talk about your underage drinking.” She scolded. 

“I have the approval of the elders; I can drink during this time.” He pointed to some of the Sennen Family members “Go ahead, knock yourself out.”

*

After everything had calmed down, Tori made it to his assigned room with Luka. The two just crashed onto the bed and sighed in unison, the festival took a lot out of everyone and everyone was just about ready to collapse into the nice warm comfort of blankets. Tonight, was no different for the two, okay that was a lie, the only difference was that they got to enjoy watching his former teacher get into a verbal argument with family members of not only Sennen, but the guest families as well; it got to the point where Lord Seth came in and joined the verbal beat down on the teacher. 

“Aside from our former teacher, the festival went well.” Luka played with his hair. “You certainly were having fun.”

“Because I was in the gardens with you most of the night.” Tori laughed. “Almost like our first date; a lively festival, being under the shady tree, enjoying tasty food.” 

“And share a few dances with each other.” Luka finished as he kissed his cheek. “We really need to do this more often.”

“You’re free to drop by our hero boutique, I trust you with our identities.” Tori smiled. “Besides, I have plans to make you my substitute snake in case something happens to me.”

“You make it sound like you’re dying.” Luka laughed. “So, me as a snake holder huh? I’d have to put thought into my costume and name, no offense, but I’d rather my suit be practical than yours.”

Tori nudged him. “Shut up, you love my suit.”

“I do.” Luka agreed with a grin. “And with that said, we’re going to bed before one of us says or does something to spark something.” He winked.

Tori just covered his face with a pillow and turned the lights off. “Good night, Luka.”

“Good night, Tori.” He laughed and held him close.


End file.
